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THE 



TEMPLE OF NATURE; 



OH, THE 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. 



..-■> • 



T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt CoUrt, Fleet Street, London. 



FJROHTISFIE-CE 




^W4 ,/*/< 



yfoteaAdsvi si&cfo: 



THE TEMPLE OF IATU1E 



HiifFciWiSoz. fyJ-/oMlson. Xondun . 



THE 



TEMPLE OF NATURE; 



OR, THE 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY: 



A POEM. 



WITH PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES. 



BY 



ERASMUS DARWIN, M.D. F.R.S. 

AUTHOR OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN, OF ZOONOMIA, AND OF 

PHYTOLOGIA. 



Unde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum, 

Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus ? 

Igneus est illis vigor, & caelestis origo. Virg. JEa. VI. 728. 



LONDON: 
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, 

BY T. BENSLEY, BOLT COURT, FLEET STREET. 

1803. 



PREFACE. 



The Poem, which is here offered to the Public, 
does not pretend to instruct by deep researches 
of reasoning; its aim is simply to amnse by bring- 
ing distinctly to the imagination the beautiful 
and sublime images of the operations of Nature 
in the order, as the Author believes, in which 
the progressive course of time presented them. 

The Deities of Egypt, and afterwards of Greece, 
and Rome, were derived from men famous in those 
early times, as in the ages of hunting, pasturage, 
and agriculture. The histories of some of their 
actions recorded in Scripture, or celebrated in the 
heathen mythology, are introduced, as the Author 



PREFACE. 



hopes, without impropriety into his account of 
those remote periods of human society. 

In the Eleusinian mysteries the philosophy 
of the works of Nature, with the origin and pro- 
gress of society, are believed to have been taught 
by allegoric scenery explained by the Hierophant 
to the initiated, which gave rise to the machi- 
nery of the following Poem. 



Priory near Derby, 
Jan. 1, 1802. 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. 



CANTO I. 



PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 



CONTENTS. 



Subject proposed. Life, Love, and Sympathy 1. Four past Ages, 
a fifth beginning 9- Invocation to Love 15. II. Bowers of Eden, 
Adam and Eve 33. Temple of Nature 65. Time chained by 
Sculpture 75. Proteus bound by Menelaus 83. Bowers of Plea- 
sure 89. School of Venus 97. Court of Pain 105. Den of Obli- 
vion 113. Muse of Melancholy 121. Cave of Trophonius 125. 
Shrine of Nature 129. Eleusinian Mysteries 137. III. Morn- 
ing 155. Procession of Virgins 159- Address to the Priestess 167. 
Descent of Orpheus into Hell 185. IV. Urania 205. God the 
First Cause 223. Life began beneath the Sea 233. Repulsion, 
Attraction, Contraction, Life 235. Spontaneous Production of 
Minute Animals 247. Irritation, Appetency 251. Life enlarges 
the Earth 2,65. Sensation, Volition, Association 269. Scene in the 
Microscope; Mucor, Monas, Vibrio, Vorticella, Proteus, Mite 281. 
V. Vegetables and Animals improve by Reproduction 295. Have 
all arisen from Microscopic Animalcules 303. Rocks of Shell 
and Coral 315. Islands and Continents raised by Earthquakes 321. 
Emigration of Animals from the Sea 327. Trapa 335. Tadpole, 
Musquito 343. Diodon, Lizard, Beaver, Lamprey, Remora, 
Whale 351. Venus rising from the Sea, emblem of Organic 
Nature* 371. All animals are first Aquatic 385. Fetus in the 
Womb 389- Animals from the Mud of the Nile 401. The Hieror- 
phant and Muse 421 — 450. 



CANTO I. 

PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 

I. By firm immutable immortal laws 
Impress'd on Nature by the Great First Cause, 
Say, Muse ! how rose from elemental strife 
Organic forms, and kindled into life; 
How Love and Sympathy with potent charm 
Warm the cold heart, the lifted hand disarm; 
Allure with pleasures, and alarm with pains, 
And bind Society in golden chains. 

Four past eventful Ages then recite, 
And give the fifth, new-born of Time, to light; 10 

The silken tissue of their joys disclose, 
Swell with deep chords the murmur of their woes; 



4 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Their laws, their labours, and their loves proclaim, 
And chant their virtues to the trump of Fame. 

Immortal Love! who ere the morn of Time, 
On wings outstretch'd, o'er Chaos hung sublime; 
Warm'd into life the bursting egg of Night, 
And gave young Nature to admiring Light ! — - 
You ! whose wide arms, in soft embraces hurl'd 
Round the vast frame, connect the whirling world! 20 
Whether immers'd in day, the Sun your throne, 
You gird the planets in your silver zone; 
Or warm, descending on ethereal wing, 
The Earth's cold bosom with the beams of spring; 
Press drop to drop, to atom atom bind, 
Link sex to sex, or rivet mind to mind; 
Attend my song ! — With rosy lips rehearse, 
And with your polish'd arrows write my verse ! — 
So shall my lines soft-rolling eyes engage, 
And snow-white fingers turn the volant page; 30 



canto r. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 5 

The smiles of Beauty all my toils repay, 
And youths and virgins chant the living lay. 

II. Where Eden's sacred bowers triumphant sprung, 
By angels guarded, and by prophets sung, 
Wav'd o'er the eaft in purple pride unfurl'd, 
And rock'd the golden cradle of the World; 



Cradle of the world, 1, 36. The nations, which possess Europe and 
a part of Asia and of Africa, appear to have descended from one 
family; and to have had their origin near the banks of the Mediter- 
ranean, as probably in Syria, the site of Paradise, according to the 
Mosaic history. This seems highly probable from the similarity of 
the structure of the languages of these nations, and from their early 
possession of similar religions, customs, and arts, as well as from the 
most ancient histories extant. The tM r o former of these may be 
collected from Lord Monboddo's learned work on the Origin of 
Language, and from Mr. Bryant's curious account of Ancient My- 
thology. 

The use of iron tools, of the bow and arrow, of earthen vessels to 
boil water in, of wheels for carriages, and the arts of cultivating 
wheat, of coagulating milk for cheese, and of spinning vegetable 
fibres for clothing, have been known in all European countries, as long- 
as their histories rme existed; besides the similarity of the texture of 
their languages, and of many words in them; thus the word sack is 
said to mean a bag in all of them, as o-axxov in Greek, saccus in 
Latin, sacco in Italian, sac in French, and sack in English and 
German. 

Other families of mankind, nevertheless, appear to have arisen in 



€. ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Four sparkling currents lav'd with wandering tides 

Their velvet avenues, and flowery sides; 

On sun-bright lawns unclad the Graces stray'd, 

And guiltless Cupids haunted every glade ; 40 

Till the fair Bride, forbidden shades among, 

Heard unalarm'd the Tempter's serpent-tongue ; 

Eyed the sweet fruit, the mandate disobey'd, 

And her fond Lord with sweeter smiles betray'd. 

Conscious awhile with throbbing heart he strove, 

Spread his wide arms, and barter'd life for love ! — 

Now rocks on rocks, in savage grandeur roll'd, 

Steep above steep, the blasted plains infold; 

The incumbent crags eternal tempest shrouds, 

And livid light'nings cleave the lambent clouds; 50 



other parts of the habitable earth, as the language of the Chinese is 
said not to resemble those of this part of the world in any respect. 
And the inhabitants of the islands of the South-Sea had neither the 
use of iron tools, nor of the bow, nor of wheels, nor of spinning, nor 
had learned to coagulate milk, or to boil water, though the domesti- 
cation of fire seems to have been the first great discovery that dis- 
tinguished mankind from the bestial inhabitants of the forest. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 7 

Round the firm base loud-howling whirlwinds blow, 
And sands in burning eddies dance below. 

Hence ye profane ! — the warring winds exclude 
Unhallow'd throngs, that press with footstep rude; 
But court the Muse's train with milder skies, 
And call with softer voice the good and wise. 
— Charm'd at her touch the opening wall divides, 
And rocks of crystal form the polish'd sides; 
Through the bright arch the Loves and Graces tread, 
Innocuous thunders murmuring o'er their head; £>0 
Pair after pair, and tittering, as they pass, 
View their fair features in the walls of glass ; 
Leave with impatient step the circling bourn, 
And hear behind the closing rocks return. 

Here, high in air, unconscious of the storm,. 
Thy temple, Nature, rears it's mystic form; 
From earth to heav'n, un wrought by mortal toil,. 
Towers the vast fabric on the desert soil ; 



8 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

O'er many a league the ponderous domes extend, 
And deep in earth the ribbed vaults descend; fQ 

A thousand jasper steps with circling sweep 
Lead the slow votary up the winding steep; 
Ten thousand piers, now join'd and now aloof, 
Bear on their branching arms the fretted roof. 

Unnumber'd ailes connect unnumber'd halls, 
And sacred symbols crowd the pictur'd walls; 
With pencil rude forgotten days design, 
And arts, or empires, live in every line. 



Pictured walls, L 76. The application of mankind, in the early- 
ages of society, to the imitative arts of painting, carving, statuary, 
and the casting of figures in metals, seems to have preceded the 
discovery of letters; and to have been used as a written language to 
convey intelligence to their distant friends, or to transmit to pos- 
terity the history of themselves, or of their discoveries. Hence the 
origin of the hieroglyphic figures which crowded the walls of the 
temples of antiquity; many of which may be seen in the tablet of 
Isis in the works of Montfaucon; and some of them are still used 
in the sciences of chemistry and astronomy, as the characters for 
the metals and planets, and the figures of animals on the celestial 
globe. 



canto r. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. y 

While chain'd reluctant on the marble ground, 
Indignant Time reclines, by Sculpture bound; 80 

And sternly bending o'er a scroll unroll'd, 
Inscribes the future with his style of gold. 
— So erst, when Proteus on the briny shore, 
New forms assum'd of eagle, pard, or boar; 
The wise Atrides bound in sea- weed thongs 
The changeful god amid his scaly throngs; 
Till in deep tones his opening lips at last 
Reluctant told the future and the past. 

Here o'er piazza'd courts, and long arcades, 
The bowers of Pleasure root their waving shades; QO 
Shed o'er the pansied moss a checker'd gloom, 
Bend with new fruits, with flow'rs successive bloom. 



So erst, when Proteus, 1. 83. It seems probable that Proteus was 
the name of a hieroglyphic figure representing Time; whose form 
was perpetually changing, and who could discover the past events of 
the world, and predict the future. Herodotus does not doubt but 
that Proteus was an Egyptian king or deity; and Orpheus calls him 
the principle of all things, and the most ancient of the gods; and 
adds, that he keeps the keys of Nature, Dancfs Diet, all which 
might well accord with a figure representing Time. 

C 



10 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Pleas'd, their light limbs on beds of roses press'd, 
In slight undress recumbent Beauties rest; 
On tiptoe steps surrounding Graces move, 
And gay Desires expand their wings above. 

Here young Dione arms her quiver'd Loves, 
Schools her bright Nymphs, and practises her doves;: 
Calls round her laughing eyes in playful turns, 
The glance that lightens, and the smile that burns; 100 
Her dimpling cheeks with transient blushes dies, 
Heaves her white bosom with seductive sighs; 
Or moulds with rosy lips the magic words* 
That bind the heart in adamantine cords. 

Behind in twilight gloom with scowling mien 
The demon Pain, convokes his court unseen; 
Whips, fetters, flames, pourtray'd on sculptur'd stone,. 
In dread festoons, adorn his ebon throne; 
Each side a cohort of diseases stands, 
And shudd'ring Fever leads the ghastly bands; 110 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. il 

O'er all Despair expands his raven wings, 

And guilt-stain'd Conscience darts a thousand stings. 

Deep-whelm'd beneath, in vast sepulchral caves, 
Oblivion dwells amid unlabell'd graves; 
The storied tomb, the laurell'd bust o'erturns, 
And shakes their ashes from the mould'ring urns. — 
No vernal zephyr breathes, no sunbeams cheer, 
Nor song, nor simper, ever enters here; 
O'er the green floor, and round the dew- damp wall. 
The slimy snail, and bloated lizard crawl; 120 

While on white heaps of intermingled bones 
The muse of Melancholy sits and moans; 
Showers her cold tears o'er Beauty's early wreck, 
Spreads her pale arms, and bends her marble neck. 

So in rude rocks, beside the ^Egean wave, 
Trophonius scoop'd his sorrow-sacred cave; 

Trophonius scoop 'd, 1. 126. Plutarch mentions, that prophecies of 
evil events were uttered from the cave of Trophonius ; hut the allegori- 
cal story, that whoever entered this cavern were never again seen to 



12 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Unbarr'd to pilgrim feet the brazen door, 
And the sad sage returning smil'd no more. 

Shrin'd in the midst majestic Nature stands, 
Extends o'er earth and sea her hundred hands; 130 
Tower upon tower her beamy forehead crests, 
And births unnumber'd milk her hundred breasts; 
Drawn round her brows a lucid veil depends, 
O'er her fine waist the purfled woof descends; 
Her stately limbs the gather'd folds surround, 
And spread their golden selvage on the ground. 

From this first altar fam'd Eleusis stole 
Her secret symbols and her mystic scroll ; 

smile, seems to have been designed to warn the contemplative from 
considering too much the dark side of nature. Thus an ancient 
poet is said to have written a poem on the miseries of the world, and 
to have thence become so unhappy as to destroy himself. When we 
reflect on the perpetual destruction of organic life, we should also 
recollect, that it is perpetually renewed in other forms by the same 
materials, and thus the sum total of the happiness of the Avorld con- 
tinues undiminished; and that a philosopher may thus smile again on 
turning his eyes from the coffins of nature to her cradles. 

Fam'd Eleusis stole, 1. 1 37- The Eleusinian mysteries were invented 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 13 

"With pious fraud in after ages rear'd 
Her gorgeous temple, and the gods rever'd. 140 

— First in dim pomp before the astonish'd throng, 
Silence, and Night, and Chaos, stalk'd along; 
Dread scenes of Death, in nodding sables dress'd, 
Froze the broad eye, and thrill'd the unbreathing breast. 
Then the young Spring, with winged Zephyr, leads 
The queen of Beauty to the blossom'd meads; 

in Egypt, and afterwards transferred into Greece along with most 
of the other early arts and religions of Europe. They seem to have 
consisted of scenical representations of the philosophy and religion 
of those times, which had previously been painted in hieroglyphic 
figures to perpetuate them before the discovery of letters; and are well 
explained in Dr. Warburton's divine legation of Moses; who believes 
with great probability, that Virgil in the sixth book of the iEneid has 
described a part of these mysteries in his account of the Elysian fields. 

In the first part of this scenery was represented Death, and the 
destruction of all things; as mentioned in the note on the Portland 
Vase in the Botanic Garden. Next the marriage of Cupid and 
Psyche seems to have shown the reproduction of living nature; and 
afterwards the procession of torches, which is said to have constituted 
a part of the mysteries, probably signified the return of light, and the 
resuscitation of all things. 

Lastly, the histories of illustrious persons of the early ages seem 
to have been enacted; who were first represented by hieroglyphic 
figures, and afterwards became the gods and goddesses of Egypt, 
Greece, and Rome. Might not such a dignified pantomime be con- 
trived, even in this age, as might strike the spectators with awe, and 
at the same time explain many philosophical truths by adapted 
imagery, and thus both amuse and instruct? 



14 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Charm'd in her train admiring Hymen moves, 
And tiptoe Graces hand in hand with Loves. 
Next, while on pausing step the masked mimes 
Enact the triumphs of forgotten times, 150 

Conceal from vulgar throngs the mystic truth, 
Or charm with Wisdom's lore the initiate youth; 
Each shifting scene, some patriot hero trod, 
Some sainted beauty, or some saviour godc 

III. Now rose in purple pomp the breezy dawn* 
And crimson dew-drops trembled on the lawn; 
Blaz'd high in air the temple's golden vanes, 
And dancing shadows veer'd upon the plains. — 
Long trains of virgins from the sacred grove, 
Pair after pair, in bright procession move, 160 

With flower-filFd baskets round the altar throng, 
Or swing their censers, as they wind along. 
The fair Urania leads the blushing bands, 
Presents their offerings with unsullied hands,; 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 15 

Pleas'd to their dazzled eyes in part unshrouds 
The goddess-form; — the rest is hid in clouds. 

" Priestess of Nature! while with pious awe 
Thy votary bends, the mystic veil withdraw; 
Charm after charm, succession bright, display, 
And give the Goddess to adoring day! 170 

So kneeling realms shall own the Power divine, 
And heaven and earth pour incense on her shrine. 

" Oh grant the Muse with pausing step to press 
Each sun-bright avenue, and green recess; 
Led by thy hand survey the trophied walls, 
The statued galleries, and the pictur'd halls; 



The statued galleries, 1. 176. The art of painting- has appeared in 
the early state of all societies before the invention of the alphabet. 
Thus when the Spanish adventurers, under Cortez, invaded America, 
intelligence of their debarkation and movements was daily trans- 
mitted to Montezuma, by drawings, which corresponded with the 
Egyptian hieroglyphics. The antiquity of statuary appears from the 
Memnon and sphinxes of Egypt; that of casting figures in metals 
from the golden calf of Aaron; and that of carving in wood from 
the idols or household gods, which Rachel stole from her father 



16 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Scan the proud pyramid, and arch sublime, 
Earth- canker'd urn, medallion green with time, 
Stern busts of Gods, with helmed heroes mix'd, 
And Beauty's radiant forms, that smile betwixt. 180 

" Waked by thy voice, transmuted by thy wand, 
Their lips shall open, and their arms expand; 
The love-lost lady, and the warrior slain, 
Leap from their tombs, and sigh or fight again. 
— So when ill-fated Orpheus tuned to woe 
His potent lyre, and sought the realms below; 
Charm'd into life unreal forms respir'd, 
And list'ning shades the dulcet notes admir'd. — ■ 

6 ' Love led the Sage through Death's tremendous porch, 
Cheer'd with his smile, and lighted with his torch; — 1Q0 



Laban, and hid beneath her garments as she sat upon the straw. 
Gen. c. xxxi. v. 34. 

Love led the Sage, 1. 189. This description is taken from the figures 
on the Barbarini, or Portland Vase, where Eros, or Divine Love, 
with his torch precedes the manes through the gates of Death, and 
reverting his smiling countenance invites him into the Elysian fields. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 17 

Hell's triple Dog his playful jaws expands, 
Fawns round the God, and licks his baby hands; 
In wondering groups the shadowy nations throng, 
And sigh or simper, as he steps along; 
Sad swains, and nymphs forlorn, on Lethe's brink, 
Hug their past sorrows, and refuse to drink; 
Night's dazzled Empress feels the golden flame 
Play round her breast, and melt her frozen frame; 
Charms with soft words, and sooths with amorous wiles, 
Her iron-hearted Lord, — and Pluto smiles. — 200 
His trembling Bride the Bard triumphant led 
From the pale mansions of the astonish'd dead; 
Gave the fair phantom to admiring light, — 
Ah, soon again to tread irremeable night!" 

IV. Her snow-white arm, indulgent to my song, 
Waves the fair Hierophant, and moves along. — 



Fawns round the God, 1. 192. This idea is copied from a painting 
of the descent of Orpheus, by a celebrated Parisian artist. 

D 



18 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. ( canto i. 

High plumes, that bending shade her amber hair, 
Nod, as she steps, their silver leaves in air; 
Bright chains of pearl, with golden buckles brac'd, 
Clasp her white neck, and zone her slender waist; 210? 
Thin folds of silk in soft meanders wind 
Down her fine form, and undulate behind; 
The purple border, on the pavement roll'd, 
Swells in the gale, and spreads its fringe of gold; 

" First, if you can, celestial Guide! disclose 
From what fair fountain mortal life arose, 
Whence the fine nerve to move and feel assign'd* 
Contractile fibre, and ethereal mind : 

" How Love and Sympathy the bosom warm, 
Allure with pleasure, and with pain alarm, 220 

With soft affections weave the social plan, 
And charm the listening Savage into Man." 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 19 

" God the First cause! — in this terrene abode 
Young Nature lisps, she is the child of God. 
From embryon births her changeful forms improve, 
Grow, as they live, and strengthen as they move. 

" Ere Time began, from naming Chaos hurl'd 
Rose the bright spheres, which form the circling world; 

God the first cause, 1. 223. 

A Jove principium, mussej Jovis omnia plena. Virgil. 
In him we live, and move, and have our being. St. Paul. 

Young Nature lisps, 1. 224. The perpetual production and in- 
crease of the strata of limestone from the shells of aquatic animals; 
and of all those incumbent on them from the recrements of veseta- 
bles and of terrestrial animals, are now well understood from our 
improved knowledge of geology; and show, that the solid parts of 
the globe are gradually enlarging, and consequently that it is young; 
as the fluid parts are not yet all converted into solid ones. Add to 
this, that some parts of the earth and its inhabitants appear younger 
than others; thus the greater height of the mountains of America 
seems to show that continent to be less ancient than Europe, Asia, 
and Africa; as their summits have been less washed away, and the 
wild animals of America, as the tigers and crocodiles, are said to be 
less perfect in respect to their size and strength ; which would show 
them to be still in a state of infancy, or of progressive improvement. 
Lastly, the progress of mankind in arts and sciences, which continues 
slowly to extend, and to increase, seems to evince the youth of 
human society; whilst the unchanging state of the societies of some 
insects, as of the bee, wasp, and ant, which is usually ascribed to in- 
stinct, seems to evince the longer existence, and greater maturity of 
those societies. The juvenility of the earth shows, that it has had a 



20 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Earths from each sun with quick explosions burst, 
And second planets issued from the first. 230 

Then, whilst the sea at their coeval birth, 
Surge over surge, involv'd the shoreless earth; 
Nurs'd by warm sun-beams in primeval caves 
Organic Life began beneath the waves. 

" First Heat from chemic dissolution springs, 
And gives to matter its eccentric wings; 



beginning or birth, and is a strong natural argument evincing the 
existence of a cause of its production, that is of the Deity. 

Earths from each sun, 1. 229- See Botan. Garden, Vol. I. Cant. I. 
.1. 107. 

First Heat from chemic, 1. %35. The matter of heat is an ethereal 
fluid, in which all things are immersed, and which constitutes the 
general power of repulsion ; as appears in explosions which are pro- 
duced by the sudden evolution of combined heat, and by the expan- 
sion of all bodies by the slower diffusion of it in its uncombined 
state. Without heat all the matter of the world would be condensed 
into a point by the power of attraction ; and neither fluidity nor life 
could exist. There are also particular powers of repulsion, as those 
of magnetism and electricity, . and of chemistry, such as oil and 
water; which last may be as numerous as the particular attractions 
which constitute chemical affinities; and may both of them exist as 
atmospheres round the individual particles of matter; see Botanic 
Garden, Vol. I. additional note VII. on elementary heat. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 21 

With strong Repulsion parts the exploding mass, 
Melts into lymph, or kindles into gas. 
Attraction next, as earth or air subsides, 
The ponderous atoms from the light divides, 240 

Approaching parts with quick embrace combines, 
Swells into spheres, and lengthens into lines. 
Last, as fine goads the gluten-threads excite, 
Cords grapple cords, and webs with webs unite; 
And quick Contraction with ethereal flame 
Lights into life the fibre-woven frame. — 



Attraction next, 1. 239- The power of attraction may be divided 
into general attraction, which is called gravity; and into particular 
attraction, which is termed chemical affinity. As nothing can act 
where it does not exist, the power of gravity must be conceived as 
extending from the sun to the planets, occupying that immense 
space; and may therefore be considered as an ethereal fluid, though 
not cognizable by our senses like heat, light, and electricity. 

Particular attraction, or chemical affinity, must likewise occup\ 
the spaces between the particles of matter which they cause to ap- 
proach each other. The power of gravity may therefore be called 
the general attractive ether, and the matter of heat may be called 
the general repulsive ether; which constitute the two great agents 
in the changes of inanimate matter. 

And quick Contraction, 1. 245. The power of contraction, which 
exists in organized bodies, and distinguishes life from inanimation, 
appears to consist of an ethereal fluid which resides in the brain ami 
nerves of living bodies, and is expended iu the act of shortening 



522 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Hence without parent by spontaneous birth 

Rise the first specks of animated earth ; 

From Nature's womb the plant or insect swims, 

And buds or breathes, with microscopic limbs. 250 

44 In earth, sea, air, around, below, above, 
Life's subtle woof in Nature's loom is wovej 



their fibres. The attractive and repulsive ethers require only the 
vicinity of bodies for the exertion of their activity, but the contrac- 
tive ether requires at first the contact of a goad or stimulus, which 
appears to draw it off from the contracting- fibre, and to excite the 
sensorial power of irritation. These contractions of animal fibres 
are afterwards excited or repeated by the sensorial powers of sensation, 
volition, or association, as explained at large in Zoonomia, Vol. I. 

There seems nothing more wonderful in the ether of contraction 
producing the shortening of a fibre, than in the ether of attraction 
causing two bodies to approach each other. The former indeed 
seems in some measure to resemble the latter, as it probably occasions 
the minute particles of the fibre to approach into absolute or adhe- 
sive contact, by withdrawing from them their repulsive atmospheres; 
whereas the latter seems only to cause particles of matter to ap- 
proach into what is popularly called contact, like the particles of 
fluids ; but which are only in the vicinity of each other, and still re- 
tain their repulsive atmospheres, as may be seen in riding through 
shallow water by the number of minute globules of it thrown up by 
the horses feet, which roll far on its surface; and by the difficulty with 
which small globules of mercury poured on the surface of a quantity 
,of it can be made to unite Avith it. 

Spontaneous birth, L, 247. See additional Note, No. I. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 23 

Points glued to points a living line extends, 

Touch 'd by some goad approach the bending ends; 

Rings join to rings, and irritated tubes 

Clasp with young lips the nutrient globes or cubes; 

And urged by appetencies new select, 

Imbibe, retain, digest, secrete, eject. 

In branching cones the living web expands, 

Lymphatic ducts, and convoluted glands; 2(30 

Aortal tubes propel the nascent blood, 

And lengthening veins absorb the refluent flood; 

Leaves, lungs, and gills, the vital ether breathe 

On earth's green surface, or the waves beneath. 



In branching cones, 1. 259. The whole branch of an artery or vein 
may be considered as a cone, though each distinct division of it is a 
cylinder. It is probable that the amount of the areas of all the small 
branches from one trunk may equal that of the trunk, otherwise the 
velocity of the blood would be greater in some parts than in others, 
which probably only exists when a part is compressed or inflamed. 

Absorb the refluent flood, 1. 2(52. The force of the arterial impulse 
appears to cease, after having propelled the blood through the capil- 
lary vessels; whence the venous circulation is owing to the extremi- 
ties of the veins absorbing the blood, as those of the lymphatics 
absorb the fluids. The great force of absorption is well elucidated 
by Dr. Hales's experiment on the rise of the sap-juice in a viue- 
stump; see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXIII. 



24 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

So Life's first powers arrest the winds and floods, 
To bones convert them, or to shells, or woods; 
Stretch the vast beds of argil, lime, and sand, 
And from diminish'd oceans form the land! 

" Next the long nerves unite their silver train, 
And young Sensation permeates the brain; 270 

Through each new sense the keen emotions dart, 
Flush the young cheek, and swell the throbbing heart. 



And from diminish'd oceans, 1. 2,68. The increase of the solid parts 
of the globe by the recrements of organic bodies, as limestone rocks 
from shells and bones, and the beds of clay, marl, coals, from de- 
composed woods, is now well known to those who have attended to 
modern geology; and Dr. Halley, and others, have endeavoured to 
show, with great probability, that the ocean has decreased in quantity 
.during the short time which human history has existed. Whence it 
appears, that the exertions of vegetable and animal life convert the 
fluid parts of the globe into solid ones; which is probably effected by 
combining the matter of heat with the other elements, instead of 
suffering it to remain simply diffused amongst them, which is a 
curious conjecture, and deserves further investigation. 

And young Sensation, 1. 270. Both sensation and volition consist 
in an affection of the central part of the sensorium, or of the whole 
of it; and hence cannot exist till the nerves are united in the brain. 
The motions of a limb of any animal cut from the body, are there- 
fore owing to irritation, not to sensation or to volition. For the de- 
finitions of irritation, sensation, volition, and association, see addi- 
tional Note II. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 05 

From pain and pleasure quick Volitions rise, 
Lift the strong arm, or point the inquiring eyes; 
With Reason's light bewilder'd Man direct, 
And right and wrong with balance nice detect. 
Last in thick swarms Associations spring, 
Thoughts join to thoughts, to motions motions cling; 
Whence in long trains of catenation flow 
Imagined joy, and voluntary woe. 280 

" So, view'd through crystal spheres in drops saline, 
Quick-shooting salts in chemic forms combine; 
Or Mucor-stems, a vegetative tribe, . 
Spread their fine roots, the tremulous wave imbibe. 
Next to our wondering eyes the focus brings 
Self-moving lines, and animated rings; 

Or Mucor-stems, 1. 283. Mucor or mould in its early state is 
properly a microscopic vegetable, and is spontaneously produced on 
the scum of all decomposing organic matter. The Monas is a mov- 
ing speck, the Vibrio an undulating wire, the Proteus perpetually 
changes its shape, and the Vorticella has wheels about its mouth, 
with which it makes an eddy, and is supposed thus to draw into its 
throat invisible animalcules. These names are from Linneus and 
Muller; see Appendix to Additional Note I. 

E 



26 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto t. 

First Monas moves, an unconnected point, 
Plays round the drop without a limb or joint; 
Then Vibrio waves, with capillary eels, 
And Vorticella whirls her living wheels; 2Q0 

While insect Proteus sports with changeful form 
Through the bright tide, a globe, a cube, a worm. 
Last o'er the field the Mite enormous swims, 
Swells his red heart, and writhes his giant limbs. 

V. " Organic Life beneath the shoreless waves 
Was born and nurs'd in Ocean's pearly caves; 



Beneath the shoreless waves, 1. 29-5. The earth was originally 
covered with water, as appears from some of its highest mountains, 
consisting of shells cemented together by a solution of part of them, 
as the limestone rocks of the Alps; Ferber's Travels. It must be 
therefore concluded, that animal life began beneath the sea. 

Nor is this unanalogous to what still occurs, as all quadrupeds 
and mankind in their embryon state are aquatic animals; and thus 
may be said to resemble gnats and frogs. The fetus in the uterus 
has an organ called the placenta, the fine extremities of the vessels 
of which permeate the arteries of the uterus, and the blood of the 
fetus becomes thus oxygenated from the passing stream of the mater- 
nal arterial blood ; exactly as is done by the gills of fish from the 
stream of water, which they occasion to pass through them. 

But the chicken in the egg possesses a kind of aerial respiration, 
since the extremities of its placental vessels terminate on a membra- 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 27 

First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass, 

Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass; 

These, as successive generations bloom, 

New powers acquire, and larger limbs assume; 300 

Whence countless groups of vegetation spring, 

And breathing realms of fin, and feet, and wing. 

" Thus the tall Oak, the giant of the wood, 
Which bears Britannia's thunders on the flood; 
The Whale, unmeasured monster of the main, 
The lordly Lion, monarch of the plain, 
The Eagle soaring in the realms of air, 
Whose eye undazzled drinks the solar glare, 



nous bag, which contains air, at the broad end of the egg; and in this 
the chick in the egg differs from the fetus in the womb, as there is 
in the egg no circulating maternal blood for the insertion of the 
extremities of its respiratory vessels, and in this also I suspect that 
the eggs of birds differ from the spawn of fish; which latter is im- 
mersed in water, and which has probably the extremities of its respi- 
ratory organ inserted into the soft membrane which covers it, and is 
in contact with the water. 

First forms minute, 1. 297. Sec Additional Note I. on Sponta- 
neous Vitality. 



28 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Imperious man, who rules the bestial crowd, 

Of language, reason, and reflection proud, 310 

With brow erect who scorns this earthy sod, 

And styles himself the image of his God; 

Arose from rudiments of form and sense. 

An embryon point, or microscopic ens! 

" Now in vast shoals beneath the brineless tide, 
On earth's firm crust testaceous tribes reside; 
Age after age expands the peopled plain, 
The tenants perish, but their cells remain; 
Whence coral walls and sparry hills ascend 
From pole to pole, and round the line extend. 320 

An embryon point ; 1. 314. The arguments showing that all vege- 
tables and animals arose from such a small beginning, as a living point 
or living fibre, are detailed in Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIX. 4. 8. on 
Generation. 

Brineless tide, 1. 315. As the salt of the sea has been gradually 
accumulating, being washed down into it from the recrements of 
animal and vegetable bodies, the sea must originally have been as 
fresh as river water; and as it is not saturated with salt, must be- 
come annually saline. The sea-water about our island contains at this 
time from about one twenty-eighth to one thirtieth part of sea salt, 
and about one eightieth of magnesian salt; Brownrigg on Salt. 

Whence coral zvalls,\. 319- An account of the structure of the 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. o 9 

" Next when imprison'd fires in central caves 
Burst the firm earth, and drank the headlong waves; 
And, as new airs with dread explosion swell, 
Form'd Java-isles, and continents of shell; 
Pil'd rocks on rocks, on mountains mountains raised, 
And high in heaven the first 'volcanoes blazed; 
In countless swarms an insect-myriad moves 
From sea-fan gardens, and from coral groves; 



earth is given in Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Additional Notes, XVI. 
XVIII. XIX. XX. XXIII. XXIV. 

Drank the headlong waves, 1. 322. See Additional Note III. 

An insect-myriad moves, 1. 327. After islands or continents were 
raised above the primeval ocean, great numbers of the most simple 
animals would attempt to seek food at the edges or shores of the 
new land, and might thence gradually become amphibious; as is 
now seen in the frog, who changes from an aquatic animal to an 
amphibious one; and in the gnat, which changes from a natant to a 
volant state. 

At the same time new microscopic animalcules would immediately 
commence wherever there was warmth and moisture, and some 
organic matter, that might induce putridity. Those situated on dry 
land, and immersed in dry air, may gradually acquire new powers to 
preserve their existence; and by innumerable successive reproduc- 
tions for some thousands, or perhaps millions of ages, may at length 
have produced many of the vegetable and animal inhabitants which 
now people the earth. 

As innumerable shell-fish must have existed a long time beneath 
the ocean, before the calcareous mountains were produced and 
elevated; it is also probable, that many of the insect tribes, or less 



30 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Leaves the cold caverns of the deep, and creeps 

On shelving shores, or climbs on rocky steeps. 330 

As in dry air the sea-born stranger roves, 

Each muscle quickens, and each sense improves; 

Cold gills aquatic form respiring lungs, 

And sounds aerial flow from slimy tongues. 

" So Trapa rooted in pellucid tides, 
In countless threads her breathing leaves divides, 



complicate animals, existed long before the quadrupeds or more 
complicate ones, which in some measure accords with the theory of 
Linneus in respect to the vegetable world; who thinks, that all the 
plants now extant arose from the conjunction and reproduction of 
about sixty different vegetables, from which he constitutes his 
natural orders. 

As the blood of animals in the air becomes more oxygenated in their 
lungs, than that of animals in water by their gills; it becomes of a 
more scarlet colour, and from its greater stimulus the sensorium 
seems to produce quicker motions and finer sensations; and as water 
is a much better vehicle for vibrations or sounds than air, the fish, 
even when dying in pain, are mute in the atmosphere, though it is 
probable that in the water they may utter sounds to be heard at a 
considerable distance. See on this subject, Botanic Garden, Vol. I. 
Canto IV. 1. 176, Note. 

So Trapa rooted, 1. 335. The lower leaves of this plant grow under 
water, and are divided into minute capillary ramifications; while the 
upper leaves are broad and round, and have air bladders in their 
footstalks to support them above the surface of the water. As the 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 31 

Waves her bright tresses in the watery mass, 

And drinks with gelid gills the vital gas; 

Then broader leaves in shadowy files advance, 

Spread o'er the crystal flood their green expanse; 340 

And, as in air the adherent dew exhales, 

Court the warm sun, and breathe ethereal gales. 

" So still the Tadpole cleaves the watery vale 
With balanc'd fins, and undulating tail ; 



aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by exposing a large 
surface of vessels with their contained fluids to the influence of the 
air; so these aquatic leaves answer a similar purpose like the gills of 
fish, and perhaps gain from water a similar material. As the material 
thus necessary to life seems to be more easily acquired from air than 
from water, the subaquatic leaves of this plant and of sisymbrium, 
oenanthe, ranunculus aqnatilis, water crow-foot, and some others, 
are cut into fine divisions to increase the surface, whilst those above 
water are undivided; see Botanic Garden, Vol. II. Canto IV. 1. 204, 
Note. 

Few of the water plants of this country are used for economical 
purposes, but the ranunculus fluviatilis may be worth cultivation; as 
on the borders of the river Avon, near Ringwood, the cottagers cut 
this plant every morning in boats, almost al! the year round, to feed 
their cows, which appear in good condition, and give a due quantity 
of milk; see a paper from Dr. Pultney in the Transactions of the 
Linnean Society, Vol. V. 

So -still the Tadpole, 1. 34S. The transformation of the tadpole 
from an aquatic animal into an aerial one is abundantly curious. 



9% ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

New lungs and limbs proclaim his second birth, 

Breathe the dry air, and bound upon the earth. 

So from deep lakes the dread Musquito springs, 

Drinks the soft breeze, and dries his tender wings, 

In twinkling squadrons cuts his airy way, 

Dips his red trunk in blood, and man his prey. 350 

" So still the Diodons, amphibious tribe, 
With two-fold lungs the sea or air imbibe ; 



when first it is hatched from the spawn by the warmth of the season, 
it resembles a fish; it afterwards puts forth legs, and resembles a 
lizard ; and finally losing its tail, and acquiring lungs instead of gills, 
becomes an aerial quadruped. 

The rana temporaria of Linneus lives in the water in spring, 
and on the land in summer, and catches flies. Of the rana paradoxa 
the larva or tadpole is as large as the frog, and dwells in Surinam, 
whence the mistake of Merian and of Seba, who call it a frog fish. The 
esculent frog is green, with three yellow lines from the mouth to the 
anus; the back transversely gibbous, the hinder feet palmated; its 
more frequent croaking in the evenings is said to foretell rain. 
Linnei Syst. Nat. Art. rana. 

Linneus asserts in his introduction to the class Amphibia, that 
frogs are so nearly allied to lizards, lizards to serpents, and serpents 
to fish, that the boundaries of these orders can scarcely be ascertained. 

The dread Musquito spiings. 1. 347- See Additional Note IV. 

So still the Diodon, 1. 351. See Additional Note V. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 33 

Allied to fish, the lizard cleaves the flood 

With one-cell'd heart, and dark frigescent blood; 

Half-reasoning Beavers long-unbreathing dart 

Through -Erie's waves with perforated heart ; 

With gills and lungs respiring Lampreys steer, 

Kiss the rude rocks, and suck till they adhere; 

The lazy Remora's inhaling lips, 

Hung on the keel, retard the struggling ships; 360 

With gills pulmonic breathes the enormous Whale, 

And spouts aquatic columns to the gale; 

Sports on the shining wave at noontide hours, 

And shifting rainbows crest the rising showers. 

" So erst, ere rose the science to record 
In letter'd syllables the volant word ; 



At noontide hours, 1. 363. The rainbows in our latitude are only 
seen in the mornings or evenings, when the sun is not much more 
than forty-two degrees high. In the more northern latitudes, where 
the meridian sun is not more than forty-two degrees high, they are 
also visible at noon. 



U ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. cantoi. 

Whence chemic arts, disclosed in pictured lines, 

Liv'd to mankind by hieroglyphic signs; 

And clustering stars, pourtray'd on mimic spheres, 

Assumed the forms of lions, bulls, and bears; 3^0 

— So erst, as Egypt's rude designs explain, 

Rose young Dione from the shoreless main; 

Type of organic Nature ! source of bliss ! 

Emerging Beauty from the vast abyss I 

Sublime on Chaos borne, the Goddess stood, 

And smiled enchantment on the troubled flood; 



As Egypt's rude designs, 1.371. See Additional Note VI. 

Rose young Dione, 1. 372. The hieroglyphic figure of Venus rising 
from the sea supported on a shell by two tritons, as well as that of 
Hercules armed with a club, appear to be remains of the most remote 
antiquity. As the former is devoid of grace, and of the pictorial art 
of design, as one half of the group exactly resembles the other; and 
as that of Hercules is armed with a club, which was the first weapon. 

The Venus seems to have represented the beauty of organic Nature 
rising from the sea, and afterwards became simply an emblem of ideal 
beauty ; while the figure of Adonis was probably designed to repre- 
sent the more abstracted idea of life or animation. Some of these 
hieroglyphic designs seem to evince the profound investigations in 
science of the Egyptian philosophers, and to have outlived all written 
language; and still constitute the symbols, by which painters and 
poets give form and animation to abstracted ideas, as to those of 
strength and beauty in the above instances. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 55 

The warring elements to peace restored, 
And young Reflection wondered and adored." 

Now paused the Nymph, — The Muse responsive cries, 
Sweet admiration sparkling in her eyes, 380 

" Drawn by your pencil, by your hand unfurl'd, 
Bright shines the tablet of the dawning world; 
Amazed the Sea's prolific depths I view, 
And Venus rising from the waves in You! 

" Still Nature's births enclosed in egg or seed 
From the tall forest to the lowly weed, 
Her beaux and beauties, butterflies and worms, 
Rise from aquatic to aerial forms. 
Thus in the womb the nascent infant laves 
Its natant form in the circumfluent waves; 3Q0 

With perforated heart unbreathing swims, 
Awakes and stretches all its recent limbs; 

Awakes and stretches, 1. 392. During the first six months of ges- 
tation, the embryon probably sleeps, as it seems to have no use tor 



36 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

With gills placental seeks the arterial flood, 

And drinks pure ether from its Mother's blood. 

Erewhile the landed Stranger bursts his way, 

From the warm wave emerging into day; 

Feels the chill blast, and piercing light, and tries 

His tender lungs, and rolls his dazzled eyes; 

Gives to the passing gale his curling hair, 

And steps a dry inhabitant of air. 400 

" Creative Nile, as taught in ancient song, 
So charm'd to life his animated throng; 
O'er his wide realms the slow- subsiding flood 
Left the rich treasures of organic mud; 

voluntary power; it then seems to awake, and to stretch its limbs, 
and change its posture in some degree, which is termed quickening. 

With gills placental, 1. 393. The placenta adheres to any side of 
the uterus in natural gestation, or of any other cavity in extra- 
uterine gestation; the extremities of its arteries and veins probably 
permeate the arteries of the mother, and absorb from thence through 
their fine coats the oxygen of the mother's blood; hence when the 
placenta is withdrawn, the side of the uterus, wnere it adhered, bleeds; 
but not the extremities of its own vessels. 

His dazzled eyes, 1. 398. Though the membrana pupillaris described 
by modern anatomists guards the tender retina from too much light; 
the young infant nevertheless seems to feel the presence of it by its 
frequently moving its eyes, before it can distinguish common objects. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 37 

While with quick growth young Vegetation yields 

Her blushing orchards, and her waving fields; 

Pomona's hand replenish'd Plenty's horn, 

And Ceres laugh'd amid her seas of corn'. — 

Bird, beast, and reptile, spring from sudden birth, 

Raise their new forms, half-animal, half-earth; 410 

The roaring lion shakes his tawny mane, 

His struggling limbs still rooted in the plain; 

With flapping wings assurgent eagles toil 

To rend their talons from the adhesive soil; 

The impatient serpent lifts his crested head, 

And dra^s his train unfinished from the bed. — 

As Warmth and Moisture blend their magic spells, 

And brood with mingling wings the slimy dells; 



As warmth and moisture, 1. 417. 

In eodem corpore sagpe 
Altera pars vivit; rudis est pars altera tellus. 
Quippe ubi temperiem sumpsere humorque calorque, 
Concipiunt; & ab bis oriuntnr, cuncta duobus. 

Ovid. Met. 1. 1. 430. 

Tins story from Ovid of the production of animals from the mud 
of the Nile seems to be of Egyptian origin, and is probably a poetical 



38 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i. 

Contractile earths in sentient forms arrange, 

And Life triumphant stays their chemic change." 420 

Then hand in hand along the waving glades 
The virgin Sisters pass beneath the shades; 
Ascend the winding steps with pausing march, 
And seek the Portico's susurrant arch; 
Whose sculptur'd architrave on columns borne 
Drinks the first blushes of the rising morn, 
Whose fretted roof an ample shield displays, 
And guards the Beauties from meridian rays. 
While on light step enamour'd Zephyr springs, 
And fans their glowing features with his wings, 430 
Imbibes the fragrance of the vernal flowers, 
And speeds with kisses sweet the dancing Hours. 



account of the opinions of the magi or priests of that country; show- 
ing that the simplest animations were spontaneously produced like 
chemical combinations, but were distinguished from the latter by 
their perpetual improvement by the power of reproduction, first by 
solitary, and then by sexual generation; whereas the products of 
natural chemistry are only enlarged by accretion, or purified by 
filtration. 



canto i. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 39 

Urania, leaning with unstudied grace, 
Rests her white elbow on a column's base; 
Awhile reflecting takes her silent stand, 
Her fair cheek press'd upon her lily hand; 
Then, as awaking from ideal trance, 
On the smooth floor her pausing steps advance, 
Waves high her arm, upturns her lucid eyes, 
Marks the wide scenes of ocean, earth, and skies; 440 
And leads, meandering as it rolls along 
Through Nature's walks, the shining stream of Song. 

First her sweet voice in plaintive accents chains 
The Muse's ear with fascinating strains; 
Reverts awhile to elemental strife, 
The change of form, and brevity of life; 
Then tells how potent Love with torch sublime 
Relights the glimmering lamp, and conquers Time. 
— The polish'd walls reflect her rosy smiles, 
And sweet-ton'd echoes talk along the ailes. 450 

END OF CANTO I. 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. 



CANTO II. 



REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 



CONTENTS, 



Brevity of Life 1. Reproduction 13. Animals improve 31. Life 
and Death alternate 37. Adonis emblem of Mortal Life 45. 
II. Solitary reproduction 61. Buds, Bulbs, Polypus 65. Truffle; 
Buds of trees how generated 71. Volvox, Polypus, Taenia, 
Oysters, Corals, are without Sex 83. Storge goddess- of Parental 
Love; First chain of Society 92, III. Female "sex produced 103. 
Tulip bulbs, Aphis 125. Eve from Adam's rib 135. IV. Hereditary 
diseases 159- Grafted trees, bulbous roots degenerate \67. Gout, 
Mania, Scrofula, Consumption 177. Time and Nature 185. 
V. Urania and the Muse lament 205. Cupid and Psyche, the 
deities of sexual love 221. Speech of Hymen 239. Second chain 
of Society 250. Young Desire 251. -Love and Beauty save the 
world 257- Vegetable sexes, Anthers and Stigmas salute 263. 
Vegetable sexual generation 271. Anthers of Vallisneria float to 
the Stigmas 279- Ant, Lampyris, Glow- Worm, Snail 287. Silk- 
Worm 293. VI. Demon of Jealousy 307. Cocks, Quails, Stags,. 
Boars 313. Knights of Romance 327- Helen and Paris 333. 
Connubial love 341. Married Birds, nests of the Linnet and 
Nightingale 343. Lions, Tigers, Bulls, Horses 357- Triumphal 
car of Cupid 361. Fish, Birds, Insects 371. Vegetables 389. 
March of Hymen 411. His lamp 419. VII. Urania's advice to 
her Nymphs 425. Dines with the Muse on forbidden Fruit 435= 
Angels visit Abraham 447 — 458. 



CANTO II. 

REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 

I. " How short the span of Life! some hours possessed, 
Warm but to cool, and active but to rest! — 
The age-worn fibres goaded to contract, 
By repetition palsied, cease to act; 



How short the span of Life, 1. 1. The thinking few in all ages 
liave complained of the brevity of life, lamenting that mankind are 
not allowed time sufficient to cultivate science, or to improve their 
intellect. Hippocrates introduces his celebrated aphorisms with this 
Idea; " Life is short, science long, opportunities of knowledge rare, 
experiments fallacious, and reasoning difficult. " — A melancholy reflec- 
tion to philosophers ! 

The age-worn fibres, 1. 3. Why the same kinds of food, which 
enlarge and invigorate the body from infancy to the meridian of life, 
and then nourish it for some years unimpaired, should at length 
gradually cease to do so, and the debility of age and death supervene, 
would be liable to surprise us if we were not in the daily habit of 
observing it; and is a circumstance which has not yet been well 
understood. 

Before mankind introduced civil society, old age did not exist in 
the world, nor other lingering diseases; as all living creatines, as soon 
as they became too feeble to defend themselves, were slain and eaten 



U /ORIGIN OF SOCIETY, canto if. 

When Time's cold hands the languid senses seize, 
Chill the dull nerves, the lingering currents freeze ; 
Organic matter, unreclaim'd by Life, 
Reverts to elements by chemic strife. 
Thus Heat evolv'd from some fermenting mass 
Expands the kindling atoms into gas ; . TO 

Which sink ere long in cold concentric rings, 
■Condensed, on Gravity's descending wings, 

**• But Reproduction with ethereal fires 
New Life rekindles, ere the first expires; 
'Calls up renascent Youth, ere tottering age 
Quits the dull scene, and gives him to the stage; 
Bids on his cheek the rose of beauty blow, 
And binds the wreaths of pleasure round his brow; 
With finer links the vital chain extends, 
And the long line of Being never ends. 20 

by others, except the yoiung broods, who were defended by their 
mother; and hence the animal world existed uniformly in its greatest 
-strength and perfection; see Additional Note VII. 
Mut Reproduction, 1. 13. See Additional Note VIIL 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 4.5 

" Self-moving Engines by unbending springs 
May walk on earth, or flap their mimic wings; 
In tubes of glass mercurial columns rise, 
Or sink, obedient to the incumbent skies; 
Or, as they touch the figured scale, repeat 
The nice gradations of circumfluent heat. 
But Reproduction, when the perfect Elf 
Forms from fine glands another like itself, 
Gives the true character of life and sense, 
And parts the organic from the chemic Ens.* — 30 

Where milder skies protect the nascent brood, 
And earth's warm bosom yields salubrious food; 
Each new Descendant with superior powers 
Of sense and motion speeds the transient hours ; 
Braves every season, tenants every clime, 
And Nature rises on the wings of Time. 

** As Life discordant elements arrests, 
Rejects the noxious, and the pure digests; 

Unbending springs, 1. 21. See Additional Note I. 4. 



46 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

Combines with Heat the fluctuating mass, 

And gives a while solidity to gas; ^ 40 

Organic forms with chemic changes strive, 

Live but to die, and die but to revive! 

Immortal matter braves the transient storm, 

Mounts from the wreck, unchanging but in form. — 

Combines with Heat, 1. 39. It was shown in note on line 248 of 
the first Canto, that much of the aerial and liquid parts of the terra- 
queous globe was converted by the powers of life into solid matter; 
and that this was effected by the combination of the fluid, heat, with 
other elementary bodies by the appetencies and propensities of the 
parts of living matter to unite with each other. But when these 
appetencies and propensities of the parts of organic matter to unite 
with each other cease, the chemical affinities of attraction and the 
aptitude to be attracted, and of repulsion and the aptitude to be 
repelled, succeed, and reduce much of the solid matters back to the 
condition of elements; which seems to be effected by the matter of 
heat being again set at liberty, which was combined with other 
matters by the powers of life; and thus by its diffusion the solid 
bodies return into liquid ones or into gasses, as occurs in the pro- 
cesses of fermentation, putrefaction, sublimation, and calcination. 
Whence solidity appears to be produced in consequence of the dimi- 
nution of heat, as the condensation of steam into water, and the con- 
solidation of water into ice, or by the combination of heat with 
bodies, as with the materials of gun-powder before its explosion. 

Immortal matter, 1. 43. The perpetual mutability of the forms of 
matter seems to have struck the philosophers of great antiquity; the 
system of transmigration taught by Pythagoras, in which the souls of 
men were supposed after death to animate the bodies of a variety of 
animals, appears to have arisen from this source. He had observed 
the perpetual changes of organic matter from one creature to another, 
and concluded, that the vivifying spirit must attend it. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 47 

44 So, as the sages of the East record 
In sacred symbol, or unletter'd word; 
Emblem of Life, to change eternal doom'd, 
The beauteous form of fair Adonis bloom'd. — 
On Syrian hills the graceful Hunter slain 
Dyed with his gushing blood the shuddering plain; 5Q 
And, slow-descending to the Eiysian shade, 
A while with Proserpine reluctant stray'd; 
Soon from the yawning grave the bursting clay 
Restor'd the Beauty to delighted day; 
Array'd in youth's resuscitated charms, 
And young Dione woo'd him to her arms. — 

Emblem of Life, 1. 47. The Egyptian figure of Venus rising from 
the sea seems to have represented the Beauty of organic Nature; 
which the philosophers of that country, the magi, appear to have 
discovered to have been elevated by earthquakes from the primeval 
ocean. But the hieroglyphic figure of Adonis seems to have signified 
the spirit of animation or life, which was perpetually wooed or 
courted by organic matter, and which perished and revived alter- 
nately. Afterwards the fable of Adonis seems to have given origin 
to the first religion promising a resurrection from the dead; whence 
his funeral and return to life were celebrated for many ages in Egypt 
and Syria, the ceremonies of which Ezekiel complains as idol- 
atrous, accusing the women of Israel of lamenting over Thammus; 
which St. Cyril interprets to be Adonis, in his Commentaries on 
Isaiah; Danet's Diction. 



48 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

Pleased for a while the assurgent youth above 

Relights the golden lamp of life and love; 

Ah, soon again to leave the cheerful light, 

And sink alternate to the realms of night. 6Q 

II. " Hence ere Vitality, as time revolves, 
Leaves the cold organ, and the mass dissolves; 
The Reproductions of the living Ens 
From sires to sons, unknown to sex, commence. 
New buds and bulbs the living fibre shoots 
On lengthening branches, and protruding roots; 
Or on the father s side from bursting glands 
The adhering young its nascent form expands; 
In branching lines the parent-trunk adorns, 
And parts ere long like plumage, hairs, or horns. JO 

il So the lone Truffle, lodged beneath the earth, 
Shoots from paternal roots the tuberous birth; 

So the lone Truffle, 1. 71. Lycoperdon tuber. This plant never 
rises above the earth, is propagated without seed by its roots only,, 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 40. 

No stamen -males ascend, and breathe above, 

No seed-born offspring lives by female love. 

From each young tree, for future buds design'd 

Organic drops exsude beneath the rind; 

While these with appetencies nice invite, 

And those with apt propensities unite; 

New embryon fibrils round the trunk combine 

With quick embrace, and form the living line: 80 

Whose plume and rootlet at their early birth 

Seek the dry air, or pierce the humid earth*. 

" So safe in waves prolific Vol vox dwells, 
And five descendants* crowd his lucid cells; 
So the male Polypus parental swims, 
And branching infants bristle all his limbs; 

and seems to require no light. Perhaps many other fungi are gener- 
ated without seed by their roots only, and without light, and ap- 
proach on the last account to animal nature. 

While these with appetencies, 1. 77. See Additional Note VIII. 

Prolific Volvox, 1. 83. The volvox globator dwells in the lakes of 
Europe, is transparent, and bears within it children and grandchildren 
to the fifth generation; Syst. Nat. 

The male polypus. 1. 85. The Hydra viridis and fusca of Linneus 

H 



y 



50 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto it. 

So the lone Taenia, as he grows, prolongs 

His flatten'd form with young adherent throngs; 

Unknown to sex the pregnant oyster swells, 

And coral-insects build their radiate shells; 90 



dwell in our ditches and rivers under aquatic plants; these animals have 
been shown by ingenious observers to revive after having been dried, 
to be restored when mutilated, to be multiplied by dividing them, 
and propagated from portions of them, parts of different ones to 
unite, to be turned inside outwards and yet live, and to be propa- 
gated by seeds, to produce bulbs, and vegetate by branches. Syst f 
Nat. 

The lone Tcenia. 1. 87. The tape-worm dwells in the intestines of 
animals, and grows old at one extremity, producing an infinite 
series of young ones at the other; the separate joints have been 
called Gourd-worms, each of which possesses a mouth of its own, and 
organs of digestion. Syst. Nat. 

The pregnant oyster. 89- Ostrea edulis dwells in the European 
oceans, frequent at the tables of the luxurious, a living repast! New- 
born oysters swim swiftly by an undulating movement of fins thrust 
out a little way from their shells. Syst. Nat. But they do not after- 
wards change their place during their whole lives, and are capable of 
no other movement, but that of opening the shell a little way : whence 
Professor Beckman observes, that their offspring is probably produced 
without maternal organs; and that those, who speak of male and 
female oysters, must be mistaken: Phil. Magaz. March 1800. It is 
also observed by H. I. le Beck, that on nice inspection of the Pearl 
oysters in the gulf of Manar, he could observe no distinction of 
sexes. Nicholson's Journal. April 1800. 

And coral insects. 1. £0. The coi'al habitation of the Madrepora of 
Linneus consists of one or more star-like cells ; a congeries of which 
form rocks beneath the sea; the animal which constructs it is termed 
Medusa; and as it adheres to its calcareous cavity, and thence cannot 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 51 

Parturient Sires caress their infant train, 
And heaven-born Storge weaves the social chain; 
Successive births her tender cares combine, 
And soft affections live along the line. 

" On angel-wings the Goddess Form descends, 
Round her fond broods her silver arms she bends; 
White streams of milk her tumid bosom swell, 
And on her lips ambrosial kisses dwell. 
Light joys on twinkling feet before her dance 
With playful nod, and momentary glance; 100 

Behind, attendant on the pansied plain, 
Young Psyche treads with Cupid in her train. 

III. " In these lone births no tender mothers blend 
Their genial powers to nourish or defend; 



travel to its neighbours, is probably without sex. I observed great 
masses of the limestone in Shropshire, which is brought to Newport, 
to consist of the cells of these animals. 

And heaven-bom Storge. I. 92. See Additional Note IX. 



52 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

No nutrient streams from Beauty's orbs improve 

These orphan babes of solitary love; 

Birth after birth the line unchanging runs, 

And fathers live transmitted in their sons; 

Each passing year beholds the unvarying kinds, 

The same their manners, and the same their minds. 110 

Till, as erelong successive buds decay, 

And insect- shoals successive pass away, 

Increasing wants the pregnant parents vex 

With the fond wish to form a softer sex; 

Whose milky rills with pure ambrosial food 

Might charm and cherish their expected brood. 



A softer sex. 1. 114. The first buds of trees raised from seed die 
annually, and are succeeded by new buds by solitary reproduction; 
which are larger or more perfect for several successive years, and 
then they produce sexual flowers, which are succeeded by seminal re- 
production. The same occurs in bulbous rooted plants raised from 
seed; they die annually, and produce others rather more perfect 
than the parent for several years, and then produce sexual flowers. 
The Aphis is in a similar manner hatched from an egg in the vernal 
months, and produces a viviparous offspring without sexual inter- 
course for nine or ten successive generations ; and then the progeny 
is b(3th male and female, which cohabit, and from these new females 
are produced eggs, which endure the winter; the same process probably 
occurs in many other insects. 



ganto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 53 

The potent wish in the productive hour 

Calls to its aid Imagination's power, 

O'er embryon throngs with mystic charm presides, 

And sex from sex the nascent world divides, 120 

With soft affections warms the callow trains, 

And gives to laughing Love his nymphs and swains -, 



Imagination's power. 1. 118. The manner in which the similarity of 
the progeny to the parent, and the sex of it, are produced by the power 
of imagination, is treated of in Zoonomia. Sect. 39- 6\ 3. It is not to be 
understood, that the first living fibres, which are to form an animal, 
are produced by imagination, with any similarity of form to the 
future animal ; but with appetencies or propensities, which shall pro- 
duce by accretion of parts the similarity of form and feature, or of 
sex, corresponding with the imagination of the father. 

His nymphs and swains. 1. 122. The arguments which have been 
adduced to show, that mankind and quadrupeds were formerly in an 
hermaphrodite state, are first deduced from the present existence of 
breasts and nipples in all the males ; which latter swell on titillation 
like those of the females, and which are said to contain a milky fluid 
at their birth; and it is affirmed, that some men have given milk to 
their children in desert countries, where the mother has perished; as 
the male pigeon is said to give a kind of milk from his stomach along 
with the regurgitated food, to the young doves, as mentioned in 
Additional Note IX. on Storge. 

Secondly, from the apparent progress of many animals to greater 
perfection, as in some insects, as the flies with two wings, termed 
Diptera; which have rudiments of two other wings, called halteres, 
or poisers ; and in many flowers which have rudiments of new stamina, 
or filaments without anthers on them. See Botanic Garden, Vol. II. 
Curcuma, Note, and the Note on 1. 204 of Canto I. of this work. 



54 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

Whose mingling virtues interweave at length 
The mother's beauty with the father's strength. 

" So tulip-bulbs emerging from the seed, 
Year after year unknown to sex proceed; 
Erewhile the stamens and the styles display 
Their petal-curtains, and adorn the day; 
The beaux and beauties in each blossom glow 
With wedded joy, or amatorial woe. 130 

It has been supposed by some, that mankind were formerly qua- 
drupeds as well as hermaphrodites ; and that some parts of the body 
are not yet so convenient to an erect attitude as to a horizontal one; as 
the fundus of the bladder in an erect posture is not exactly over the 
insertion of the urethra ; whence it is seldom completely evacuated, 
and thus renders mankind more subject to the stone, than if he had 
preserved his horizontally : these philosophers, with Buffon and 
Helvetius, seem to imagine, that mankind arose from one family of 
monkeys on the banks of the Mediterranean; who accidentally had 
learned to use the adductor pollicis, or that strong muscle which consti- 
tutes the ball of the thumb, and draws the point of it to meet the points 
of the fingers; which common monkeys do not; and that this muscle 
gradually increased in size, strength, and activity, in successive ge- 
nerations; and by this improved use of the sense of touch, that mon- 
keys acquired clear ideas, and gradually became men. 

Perhaps atl the productions of nature are in their progress to greater 
perfection! an idea countenanced by modern discoveries and de- 
ductions concerning the progressive formation of the solid parts of 
the terraqueous globe, and consonant to the dignity of the Creator 
of all things. 




THE CIE ATIOF OF E VIE 

''/'ft-//,,/,! J„S,' .„. J- ,///,■ , //<'//,,/,./, //,,„/■/?/,/. 






canto u. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 55 

Unmarried Aphides prolific prove 

For nine successions uninform'd of love; 

New sexes next with softer passions spring, 

Breathe the fond vow, and woo with quivering wing. 

" So erst in Paradise creation's Lord, 
As the first leaves of holy writ record, 
From Adam's rib, who press'd the flowery grove, 
And dreamt delighted of untasted love, 
To cheer and charm his solitary mind, 
Form'd a new sex, the Mother of Mankind. 140 
— Buoy'd on light step the Beauty seem'd to swim, 
And stretch'd alternate every pliant limb; 
Pleased on Euphrates' velvet margin stood, 
And view'd her playful image in the flood; 
Own'd the fine flame of love, as life began, 
And smiled enchantment on adoring Man. 
Down her white neck and o'er her bosom roll'd, 
Flow'd in sweet negligence her locks of gold; 

The mother of mankind. 1. 140. See Additional Note V 



56 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ir. 

Round her fine form the dim transparence play'd, 
And show'd the beauties, that it seem'd to shade. 150 
— Enamour'd Adam gaz'd with fond surprise, 
And drank delicious passion from her eyes; 
Felt the new thrill of young Desire, and press'd 
The graceful Virgin to his glowing breast. — 
The conscious Fair betrays her soft alarms, 
Sinks with warm blush into his closing arms, 
Yields to his fond caress with wanton play, 
And sweet, reluctant, amorous, delay. 

IV. "Where no new Sex with glands nutritious feeds, 
Nurs'd in her womb, the solitary breeds; 160 

No Mother's care their early steps directs, 
Warms in her bosom, with her wings protects; 
The clime unkind, or noxious food instills 
To embryon nerves hereditary ills; 
The feeble births acquired diseases chase, 
Till Death extinguish the degenerate race. 

Acquired diseases. 1. 165. See Additional Note XL 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 57 

" So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise, 
Spread their fair blossoms, and perfume the skies; 
Till canker taints the vegetable blood, 
Mines round the bark, and feeds upon the wood. 170 
So, years successive, from perennial roots 
The wire or bulb with lessen'd vigour shoots; 
Till curled leaves, or barren flowers, betray 
A waning lineage, verging to decay; 
Or till, amended by connubial powers, 
Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers. 

" E'en where unmix'd the breed, in sexual tribes 
Parental taints the nascent babe imbibes; 
Eternal war the Gout and Mania wage 
With fierce uncheck'd hereditary rage; 180 

So grafted trees, 1. 167. Mr. Knight first observed that those apple 
and pear trees, which had been propagated for above a century by 
ingraftment were now so unhealthy, as not to be worth cultiva- 
tion. I have suspected the diseases of potatoes attended with the 
curled leaf, and of strawberry plants attended with barren flowers, 
to be owing to their having been too long raised from roots, or by 
solitary reproduction, and not from seeds, or sexual reproduction, 
and to have thence acquired those hereditary diseases. 

I 



58 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

Sad Beauty's form foul Scrofula surrounds 
With bones distorted, and putrescent wounds; 
And, fell Consumption! thy unerring dart 
Wets its broad wing in Youth's reluctant heart. 

" With pausing step, at night's refulgent noon, 
Beneath the sparkling stars, and lucid moon, 
Plung'd in the shade of some religious tower, 
The slow bell counting the departed hour, 
O'er gaping tombs where shed umbrageous Yews 
On mouldering bones their cold unwholesome dews ; 1 QO 
While low aerial voices whisper round, 
And moondrawn spectres dance upon the ground; 
Poetic Melancholy loves to tread, 
And bend in silence o'er the countless Dead; 
Marks with loud sobs infantine Sorrows rave, 
And wring their pale hands o'er their Mother's grave; 



And, fell Consumption, I. 183. 

. Haeret lateri lethalis arundo. Virgil. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 59 

Hears on the new-turn'd sod with gestures wild 
The kneeling Beauty call her buried child; 
Upbraid with timorous accents Heaven's decrees, 
And with sad sighs augment the passing breeze. 200 
1 Stern Time,' She cries, * receives from Nature's womb 
Her beauteous births, and bears them to the tomb; 
Calls all her sons from earth's remotest bourn, 
And from the closing portals none return!' 

V. Urania paused, — upturn'd her streaming eyes, 
And her white bosom heaved with silent sighs; 
With her the Muse laments the sum of things, 
And hides her sorrows with her meeting wings; 
Long o'er the wrecks of lovely Life they weep, 
Then pleased reflect, " to die is but to sleep;" 210 
From Nature's coffins to her cradles turn, 
Smile with young joy, with new affection burn. 

And now the Muse, with mortal woes impress'd, 
Thus the fair Hierophant again address'd. 



60 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ir 

— " Ah me! celestial Guide, thy words impart 

Ills undeserved, that rend the nascent heart! 

O, Goddess, say, if brighter scenes improve 

Air-breathing tribes, and births of sexual love?" — 

The smiling Fair obeys the inquiring Muse, 

And in sweet tones her grateful task pursues. 220 

" Now on broad pinions from the realms above 
Descending Cupid seeks the Cyprian grove; 
To his wide arms enamour'd Psyche springs, 
And clasps her lover with aurelian wings. 
A purple sash across His shoulder bends, 
And fringed with gold the quiver'd shafts suspends; 
The bending bow obeys the silken string, 
And, as he steps, the silver arrows ring. 

EnamouredPsycM, 1.223. A butterfly was the ancient emblem of 
the soul after death as rising from the tomb of its former state, and 
becoming a winged inhabitant of air from an insect creeping upon 
earth. At length the wings only were given to a beautiful nymph 
under the name of Psyche, which is the greek word for the soul, and 
also became afterwards to signify a butterfly probably from the po- 
pularity of this allegory. Many allegorical designs of Cupid or Love 
warming a butterfly or the Soul with his torch may be seen in Spence's 
Polymetis, and a beautiful one of their marriage in Bryant's Mytho- 
logy; from which this description is in part taken. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 61 

Thin folds of gauze with dim transparence flow 
O'er Her fair forehead, and her neck of snow; 230 
The winding woof her graceful limbs surrounds, 
Swells in the breeze, and sweeps the velvet grounds; 
As hand in hand along the flowery meads 
His blushing bride the quiver'd hero leads ; 
Charm'd round their heads pursuing Zephyrs throng, 
And scatter roses, as they move along; 
Bright beams of Spring in soft effusion play, 
And halcyon Hours invite them on their way. 

" Delighted Hymen hears their whisper'd vows, 
And binds his chaplets round their polish'd brows, 240 
Guides to his altar, ties the flowery bands, 
And as they kneel, unites their willing hands. 
* Behold, he cries, Earth 1 Ocean 1 Air above, 
' And hail the Deities of Sexual Love! 
4 All forms of Life shall this fond Pair delight, 
8 And sex to sex the willing world unite; 



62 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

4 Shed their sweet smiles in Earth's unsocial bowers, 

* Fan with soft gales, and gild with brighter hours; 

• Fill Pleasure's chalice unalloy'd with pain, 

4 And give Society his golden chain/ 250 

" Now young Desires, on purple pinions borne, 
Mount the warm gales of Manhood's rising morn ; 
With softer fires through virgin bosoms dart, 
Flush the pale cheek, and goad the tender heart. 
Ere the weak powers of transient Life decay, 
And Heaven's ethereal image melts away; 
Love with nice touch renews the organic frame, 
Forms a young Ens, another and the same; 
Gives from his rosy lips the vital breath, 
And parries with his hand the shafts of death; 260 
While Beauty broods with angel wings unfurl'd 
O'er nascent life, and saves the sinking world. 



While Beauty broods, 1. 26 1. 

Alma Venus ! per te quoniam genus omne an im an faun 
Concipitur, visitque exortum lumina cceli. Lucret. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 6$ 

" Hence on green leaves the sexual Pleasures dwell, 
And Loves and Beauties crowd the blossom's bell; 
The wakeful Anther in his silken bed 
O'er the pleased Stigma bows his waxen head; 
With meeting lips and mingling smiles they sup 
Ambrosial dewdrops from the nectar'd cup; 
Or buoy'd in air the plumy Lover springs, 
And seeks his panting bride on Hymen- wings. 270 



From the nectar d cup, 1. 268. The anthers and stigmas of flowers 
are probably nourished by the honey, which is secreted by the honey- 
gland called by Linneus the nectary; and possess greater sensibi- 
lity or animation than other parts of the plant. The corol of the 
flower appears to be a respiratory organ belonging to these anthers 
and stigmas for the purpose of further oxygenating the vegetable 
blood for the production of the anther dust and of this honey, which 
is also exposed to the air in its receptacle or honey-cup; which, I 
suppose, to be necessary for its further oxygenation, as in many 
flowers so complicate an apparatus is formed for its protection from 
insects, as in aconitum, delphinium, larkspur, lonicera, woodbine; 
and because the corol and nectary fall along with the anthers and 
stigmas, when the pericarp is impregnated. 

Dr. B. S. Barton in the American Transactions has lately shown, 
that the honey collected from some plants is intoxicating and poisonous 
to men, as from rhododendron, azalea, and datura ; and from some 
other plants that it is hurtful to the bees which collect it; and that 
from some flowers it is so injurious or. disagreeable, that they do not 
collect it, as from the fritillaria or crown imperial of this country. 



64 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto it. 

" The Stamen males, with appetencies just, 
Produce a formative prolific dust; 
With apt propensities, the Styles recluse 
Secrete a formative prolific juice; 
These in the pericarp erewhile arrive, 
Rush to each other, and embrace alive. 
— Form'd by new powers progressive parts succeed, 
Join in one whole, and swell into a seed. 

" So in fond swarms the living Anthers shine 
Of bright Vallisner on the wavy Rhine; 280 



With appetencies just, 1. 271. As in the productions by chemical 
affinity one set of particles must possess the power of attraction, and 
the other the aptitude to be attracted, as when iron approaches a 
magnet; so when animal particles unite, whether in digestion or 
reproduction, some of them must possess an appetite to unite, and 
others a propensity to be united. The former of these are secreted 
by the anthers from the vegetable blood, and the latter by the styles 
or pericarp; see the Additional Note VIII. on Reproduction. 

Of bright Vallisner, 1. 280. Vallisneria, of the class of dioecia. The 
flowers of the male plant are produced under water, and as soon as 
their farina or dust is mature, they detach themselves from the plant, 
rise to the surface and continue to flourish, and are wafted by the 
air or borne by the current to the female flowers. In this they 
resemble those tribes of insects, where the males at certain seasons 



canto ir. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 65 

Break from their stems, and on the liquid glass 
Surround the admiring stigmas as they pass; 
The love -sick Beauties lift their essenced brows, 
Sigh to the Cyprian queen their secret vows, 
Like watchful Hero feel their soft alarms, 
And clasp their floating lovers in their arms. 

" Hence the male Ants their gauzy wings unfold, 
And young Lampyris waves his plumes of gold; 
The Glow- Worm sparkles with impassion'd light 
On each green bank, and charms the eye of night; 2Q0 
While new desires the painted Snail perplex, 
And twofold love unites the double sex. 



acquire wings, but not the females, as ants, coccus, lampyris, pha- 
iaena, brumata, lichanella; Botanic Garden, Vol. II. Note on Vallis- 
neria. 

And young Lampyris, 1. 288. The fire-fly is at some seasons so 
luminous, that M. Merian says, that by putting two of them under a 
glass, she was able to draw her figures of them by night. Whether 
the light of this and of other insects be caused by their amatorial 
passion, and thus assists them to find each other; or is caused by 
respiration, which is so analogous to combustion ; or to a tendency 
to putridity, as in dead fish and rotten wood, is still to be investi- 
gated; see Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Additional Note IX. 

K 



66 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ii. 

" Hence, when the Moras in Italia' s lands 
To spring's warm beam its timid leaf expands; 
The Silk- Worm broods in countless tribes above 
Crop the green treasure, uninform'd of love; 
Erewhile the changeful worm with circling head 
Weaves the nice curtains of his silken bed; 
Web within web involves his larva form, 
Alike secured from sunshine and from storm; 300 

For twelve long days He dreams of blossom'd groves, 
Untasted honey, and ideal loves; 



Untasted honey, 1. 302. The numerous moths and butterflies seem 
to pass from a reptile leaf-eating state, and to acquire wings to flit in 
air, with a proboscis to gain honey for their food along with their < 
organs of reproduction, solely for the purpose of propagating their 
species by sexual intercourse, as they die when that is completed. 
By the use of their wings they have access to each other on different 
branches or on different vegetables, and by living upon honey pro- 
bably acquire a higher degree of animation, and thus seem to resem- 
ble the anthers of flowers, which probably are supported by honey 
only, and thence acquire greater sensibility; see Note on Vallisneria, 
1. 280 of this Canto, 

A naturalist, who had studied this subject, thought it not impossi- 
ble that the first insects were the anthers and stigmas of flowers,, 
which had by some means loosened themselves from their parent 
plant, like the male flowers of vallisneria, and that other insects in 
process of time had been formed from these, some acquiring wings,, 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 67 

Wakes from his trance, alarm'd with young Desire, 
Finds his new sex, and feels ecstatic fire; 
From flower to flower with honey'd lip he springs, 
And seeks his velvet loves on silver wings. 

VI. " The Demon, Jealousy, with Gorgon frown 
Blasts the sweet flowers of Pleasure not his own, 
Rolls his wild eyes, and through the shuddering grove 
Pursues the steps of unsuspecting Love; 310 

Or drives o'er rattling plains his iron car, 
Flings his red torch, and lights the flames of war. 

Here Cocks heroic burn with rival rage, 
And Quails with Quails in doubtful fight engage; 
Of armed heels and bristling plumage proud, 
They sound the insulting clarion shrill and loud, 



others fins, and others claws, from their ceaseless efforts to procure 
food or to secure themselves from injury. He contends, that none 
of these changes are more incomprehensible than the transformation 
of caterpillars into butterflies; see Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Additional 
Note XXXIX. 



68 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto n. 

With rustling pinions meet, and swelling chests, 
And seize with closing beaks their bleeding crests; 
Rise on quick wing above the struggling foe, 
And aim in air the death-devoting blow. 320 

There the hoarse stag his croaking rival scorns, 
And butts and parries with his branching horns; 
Contending Boars with tusk enamelPd strike, 
And guard with shoulder-shield the blow oblique; 



There the hoarse stag, 1. 321. A great want of one part of the 
animal world has consisted in the desire of the exclusive possession 
of the females; and these have acquired weapons to combat each 
other for this purpose, as the very thick shield-like horny skin on the 
shoulder of the boar is a defence only against animals of his own 
species, who strike obliquely upwards, nor are his tushes for other 
purposes, except to defend himself, as he is not naturally a carnivo- 
rous animal. So the horns of the stag are sharp to offend his adver- 
sary, but are branched for the purpose of parrying or receiving the 
thrusts of horns similar to his own, and have therefore been formed 
for the purpose of combating other stags for the exclusive possession 
of the females, who are observed, like the ladies in the times of 
chivalry, to attend the car of the victor. 

The birds, which do not carry food to their young, and do not 
therefore marry, are armed with spurs for the purpose of fighting for 
the exclusive possession of the females, as cocks and quails. It is 
certain that these weapons are not provided for their defence against 
other adversaries, because the females of these species are without 
this armour; Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIX. 4, 8. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 69 

While female bands attend in mute surprise, 
And view the victor with admiring eyes. — 

" So Knight on Knight, recorded in romance, 
Urged the proud steed, and couch'd the extended lance; 
He, whose dread prowess with resistless force, 
O'erthrew the opposing warrior and his horse, 330 

Bless'd, as the golden guerdon of his toils, 
Bow'd to the Beauty, and receiv'd her smiles. 

" So when fair Helen with ill-fated charms, 
By Paris wooed, provoked the world to arms, 
Left her vindictive Lord to sigh. in vain 
For broken vows, lost love, and cold disdain; 
Fired at his wrongs, associate to destroy 
The realms unjust of proud adulterous Troy, 
Unnumber'd Heroes braved the dubious fight, 
And sunk lamented to the shades of night. 340 



70 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ir. 

" Now vows connubial chain the plighted pair, 
And join paternal with maternal care; 
The married birds with nice selection cull 
Soft thistle-down, gray moss, and scattered wool, 
Line the secluded nest with feathery rings, 
Meet with fond bills, and woo with fluttering wings. 
Week after week, regardless of her food, 
The incumbent Linnet warms her future brood; 
Each spotted egg with ivory lips she turns, 
Day after day with fond expectance burns, 350 

Hears the young prisoner chirping in his cell, 
And breaks in hemispheres the obdurate shell. 



The incumbent Linnet, 1. 348. The affection of the unexperienced 
and untaught bird to its egg, which induces it to sit days and weeks 
upon it to warm the enclosed embryon, is a matter of great difficulty 
to explain ; See Additional Note IX. on Storge. Concerning the 
fabrication of their nests, see Zoonomia, Sect. XVI. 13. on instinct 

Hears the young prisoner, 1. 351. The air-vessel at the broad end 
-of an incubated egg gradually extends its edges along the sides of the 
shell, as the chick enlarges, but is at the same time applied closer to 
the internal surface of the shell ; when the time of hatching approaches 
the chick is liable to break this air-bag with its beak, and thence 
begin to breathe and to chirp; at this time the edges of the enlarged 
air-bag extend so as to cover internally one hemisphere of the egg; 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 71 

Loud trills sweet Philomel his tender strain, 
Charms his fond bride, and wakes his infant train ; 
Perch'd on the circling moss, the listening throng 
Wave their young wings, and whisper to the song. 

" The Lion-King forgets his savage pride, 
And courts with playful paws his tawny bride; 
The listening Tiger hears with kindling flame 
The love-lorn night-call of his brinded dame. 3(30 

Despotic Love dissolves the bestial war, 
Bends their proud necks, and joins them to his car; 



and as one half of the external shell is thus moist, and the other half 
dry, as soon as the mother hearing the chick chirp, or the chick 
itself wanting respirable air, strikes the egg, about its equatorial 
line, it breaks into two hemispheres, and liberates the prisoner. 

And whisper to the song. 1. 356. A curious circumstance is men- 
tioned by Kircherus de Musurgia, in his Chapter de Lusciniis. 
" That the young nightingales, that are hatched under other birds, 
never sing till they are instructed by the company of other nightin- 
gales." And Johnston affirms, that the nightingales that visit Scot- 
land, have not the same harmony as those of Italy, (Pennant's Zoo- 
logy, octavo, p. 255), which would lead us to suspect, that the sing- 
ing of birds, like human music, is an artificial language rather than a 
natural expression of passion. 



72 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. ■ canto ii. 

Shakes o'er the obedient pairs his silken thong, 
And goads the humble, or restrains the strong. — - 
Slow roll the silver wheels, — in beauty's pride 
Celestial Psyche blushing by his side. — 
The lordly Bull behind and warrior Horse ' 
With voice of thunder shake the echoing course, 
Chain'd to the car with herds domestic move, 
And swell the triumph of despotic Love. 370 

" Pleased as they pass along the breezy shore 
In twinkling shoals the scaly realms adore, 
Move on quick fin with undulating train, 
Or lift their slimy foreheads from the main. 



With undulating train. 1. 373. The side fins of fish seem to be 
-chiefly used to poise them ; as they turn upon their backs immediately 
when killed, the air-bladder assists them perhaps to rise or descend 
by its possessing the power to condense the air in it by muscular con- 
traction; and it is possible, that at great depths in the ocean the air 
in this receptacle may by the great pressure of the incumbent water 
become condensed into so small a space, as to cease to be useful to 
the animal, which was possibly the cause of the death of Mr. Day in 
his diving ship. See note on Ulva, Botan. Gard. V. II. 

The progressive motion of fish beneath the water is produced 
principally by the undulation of their tails. One oblique plain of a 



canto n. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 7 J 

High o'er their heads on pinions broad display 'd 
The feather'd nations shed a floating shade; 



part of the tail on the right side of the fish strikes the water at the 
same time that another oblique plain strikes it on the left side, hence 
in respect to moving to the right or left these percussions of the water 
counteract each other, but they coincide in respect to the progres- 
sion of the fish ; this power seems to be better applied to push forwards 
a body in water, than the oars of boats, as the particles of water recede 
from the stroke of the oar, whence the comparative power acquired 
is but as the difference of velocity between the striking oar and the 
receding water. So a ship moves swifter with an oblique wind, than 
with a wind of the same velocity exactly behind it ; and the common 
windmill sail placed obliquely to the wind is more powerful than 
one which directly recedes from it. Might not some machinery re- 
sembling the tails of fish be placed behind a boat, so as to be moved 
with greater effect than common oars, by the force of wind or steam, 
or perhaps by hand ? 

On pinions broad display 'd. 1. 37<5. The progressive motion of birds 
in the air is principally performed by the movement of their wings, 
and not by that of their tails as in fish. The bird is supported in an 
element so much lighter than itself by the resistance of the air as it 
moves horizontally against the oblique plain made by its breast, ex- 
panded tail and wings, when they are at rest; the change of this 
obliquity also assists it to rise, and even directs its descent, though 
this is owing principally to its specific gravity, but it is in all situa- 
tions kept upright or balanced by its wings. 

As the support of the bird in the air, as well as its progression, is 
performed by the motion of the wings; these require strong muscles 
as are seen on the breasts of partridges. Whence all attempts of men 
to fly by wings applied to the weak muscles of their arms have been 
ineffectual; but it is not certain whether light machinery so con- 
trived as to be moved by their feet, might not enable them to fly a 
little way, though not so as to answer any useful purpose. 

L 



74 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto n. 

Pair after pair enamour'd shoot along, 
And trill in air the gay impassion'd song. 
With busy hum in playful swarms around 
Emerging insects leave the peopled ground,, 380 

Rise in dark clouds, and borne in airy rings 
Sport round the car, and wave their golden wings* 
Admiring Fawns pursue on dancing hoof, 
And bashful Dryads peep from shades aloof; 
Emerging Nereids rise from coral cells, 
Enamour'd Tritons sound their twisted shells; 
From sparkling founts enchanted Naiads move, 
And swell the triumph of despotic Love. 

> 

" Delighted Flora, gazing from afar, 
Greets with mute homage the triumphal car ; 3Q0 

On silvery slippers steps with bosom bare, 
Bends her white knee, and bows her auburn hair; 
Calls to her purple heaths, and blushing bowers* 
Bursts her green gems, and opens all her flowers^ 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 75 

O'er the bright Pair a shower of roses sheds, 
And crowns with wreathes of hyacinth their heads. — 
— Slow roll the silver wheels with snowdrops deck'd, 
And primrose bands the cedar spokes connect; 
Round the fine pole the twisting woodbine clings, 
And knots of jasmine clasp the bending springs; 400 
Bright daisy links the velvet harness chain, 
And rings of violets join each silken rein; 
Festoon'd behind, the snow-white lilies bend, 
And tulip- tassels on each side depend. 
— Slow rolls the car, — the enamour'd Flowers exhale 
Their treasured sweets, and whisper to the gale; 
Their ravelled buds, and wrinkled cups unfold, 
Nod their green stems, and wave their bells of gold; 
Breathe their soft sighs from each enchanted grove, 
And hail The Deities of Sexual Love. 410 

" Onward with march sublime in saffron robe 
Young Hymen steps, and traverses the globe; 



7 6 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto ir. 

O'er burning sands, and snow-clad mountains, treads, 

Blue fields of air, and ocean's briny beds; 

Flings from his radiant torch celestial light 

O'er Day's wide concave, and illumes the Night. 

With dulcet eloquence his tuneful tongue 

Convokes and captivates the Fair and Young; 

His golden lamp with ray ethereal dyes 

The blushing cheek, and lights the laughing eyes; 420 

With secret flames the virgin's bosom warms, 

And lights the impatient bridegroom to her arms; 

With lovely life all Nature's frame inspires, 

And, as they sink, rekindles all her fires." 

VII. Now paused the beauteous Teacher, and awhile 
Gazed on her train with sympathetic smile. 
6 Beware of Love ! she cried, ye Nymphs, and hear 
4 His twanging bowstring with alarmed ear; 
4 Fly the first whisper of the distant dart, 
4 Or shield with adamant the fluttering heart; 430 



canto ir. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 77 

4 To secret shades, ye Virgin trains, retire, 
1 And in your bosoms guard the vestal fire." 
— The obedient Beauties hear her words, advised, 
And bow with laugh repress'd, and smile chastised. 

Now at her nod the Nymphs attendant bring 
Translucent water from the bubbling spring; 

With laugh repressed. 1. 434. The cause of the violent actions of 
laughter, and of the difficulty of restraining them, is a curious subject 
of inquiry. When pain afflicts us, which we cannot avoid, we learn 
to relieve it by great voluntary exertions, as in grinning, holding 
the breath, or screaming; now the pleasurable sensation, which ex- 
cites laughter, arises for a time so high as to change its name, and 
become a painful one; and we excite the convulsive motions of the 
respiratory muscles to relieve this pain. We are however unwilling 
to lose the pleasure, and presently put a stop to this exertion ; and 
immediately the pleasure recurs, and again as instantly rises into pain. 
Which is further explained in Zoonomia, Sect. 34. 1. 4. When this 
pleasurable sensation rises into a painful one, and the customs of so- 
ciety will not permit us to laugh aloud, some other violent voluntary 
exertion is used instead of it to alleviate the pain. 

With smile chastised. 1.434. The origin of the smile has generally 
been ascribed to inexplicable instinct, but may be deduced from our 
early associations of actions and ideas. In the act of sucking, the lips 
of the infant are closed round the nipple of its mother, till it has 
filled its stomach, and the pleasure of digesting this grateful food suc- 
ceeds; then the sphincter of the mouth, fatigued by the continued 
action of sucking, is relaxed; and the antagonist muscles of the face 
gently acting, produce the smile of pleasure, which is thus during 
our lives associated with gentle pleasure, which is further explained 
in Zoonomia, Sect. 16. 8. 4. 



78 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY, canto h. 

In crystal cups the waves salubrious shine, 

Unstain'd untainted with immodest wine. 

Next, where emerging from its ancient roots 

Its widening boughs the Tree of Knowledge shoots ; 440 

Pluck'd with nice choice before the Muse they placed 

The now -no longer interdicted taste. 

Awhile they sit, from higher cares released, 

And pleased partake the intellectual feast. 

Of good and ill they spoke, effect and cause. 

Celestial agencies, and Nature's laws. 

So when angelic Forms to Syria sent 
Sat in the cedar shade by Abraham's tent; 
A spacious bowl the admiring Patriarch fills 
With dulcet water from the scanty rills; 450 

Sweet fruits and kernels gathers from his hoard, 
With milk and butter piles the plenteous board ; 
While on the heated hearth his Consort bakes 
Tine flour well kneaded in unleaven'd cakes. 



canto ii. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 79 

The Guests ethereal quaff the lucid flood, 
Smile on their hosts, and taste terrestrial food; 
And while from seraph-lips sweet converse springs* 
Lave their fair feet, and close their silver wings. 



END OF CANTO II, 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. 



CANTO III. 



PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Urania and the Muse converse 1. Progress of the Mind 42. II. The 
Four sensorial powers of Irritation, Sensation, Volition, and Asso- 
ciation 55. Some finer senses given to Brutes 93. And Armour 108. 
Finer Organ of Touch given to Man 121. Whence clear ideas of 
Form 125. Vision is the Language of the Touch 131. Magic 
Lantern 139- Surprise, Novelty, Curiosity 145. Passions, 
Vices 149. Philanthropy 159. Shrine of Virtue 1 60. III. Ideal 
Beauty from the Female Bosom 163. Eros the God of Sentimental 
Love 177. Young Dione idolized by Eros 186. Third chain of 
Society 206. IV. Ideal Beauty from curved Lines 207. Taste 
for the Beautiful 222. Taste for the Sublime 223. For poetic 
Melancholy 23]. For Tragedy 241. For artless Nature 247. The 
Genius of Taste 250. V. The Senses easily form and repeat 
ideas 260. Imitation from clear ideas 279- The Senses imitate 
each other 293. In dancing 295. In draAving naked Nymphs 279- 
In Architecture, as at St. Peter's at Rome 303. Mimickry 319. 
VI. Natural Language from imitation 335. Language of Quails. 
Cocks. Lions. Boxers 343. Pantomime Action 357. Verbal Lan- 
guage from Imitation and Association 363. Symbols of ideas 371. 
Gigantic form of Time 385. Wings of Hermes 391. VII. Recol- 
lection from clear ideas 395. Reason and Volition 401. Arts of 
the Wasp, Bee, Spider, Wren, Silk-Worm 411. Volition concerned 
about Means or Causes 435. Man distinguished by Language, by 
using Tools, labouring for Money, praying to the Deity 438. The 
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil 445. VIII. Emotions from 
Imitation 461. The Seraph; Sympathy 467. Christian Morality 
the great bond of Society 483 — 496. 



CANTO III. 

PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 

I. Now rose, adorn'd with Beauty's brightest hues, 
The graceful Hierophant, and winged Muse; 
Onward they step around the stately piles, 
O'er porcelain floors, through laqueated ailes, 
Eye Nature's lofty and her lowly seats, 
Her gorgeous palaces, and green retreats, 
Pervade her labyrinths with unerring tread, 
And leave for future guests a guiding thread. 

First with fond gaze blue fields of air they sweep, 
Or pierce the briny chambers of the deep; 10 

Earth's burning line, and icy poles explore, 
Her fertile surface, and her caves of ore ; 



84 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Or mark how Oxygen with Azote-Gas 

Plays round the globe in one aerial mass, 

Or fused with Hydrogen in ceaseless flow 

Forms the wide waves, which foam and roll below. 

Next with illumined hands through prisms bright 
Pleased they untwist the sevenfold threads of light ; 
Or, bent in pencils by the lens, convey 
To one bright point the silver hairs of Day. 20 

Then mark how two electric streams conspire 
To form the resinous and vitreous fire; 



Mow Oxygen, 1. 13. The atmosphere which surrounds us, is com- 
posed of twenty-seven parts of oxygen gas and seventy-three of azote 
<or nitrogen gas, which are simply diffused together, but which, when 
combined, become nitrous acid. Water consists of eighty-six parts 
oxygen, and fourteen parts of hydrogen or inflammable air, in a state 
of combination. It is also probable, that much oxygen enters the 
composition of glass; as those materials which promote vitrification, 
contain so much of it, as minium and manganese; and that glass is 
hence a solid acid in the temperature of our atmosphere, as water is 
a fluid one. 

Two electric streams, 1. 21. It is the opinion of some philosophers, 
that the electric ether consists of two kinds of fluids diffused together 
or combined ; which are commonly known by the terms of positive 
and negative electricity, but are by these electricians called vitreous 
and resinous electricity. The electric shocks given by the torpedo 



canto iir. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 85 

Beneath the waves the fierce Gymnotus arm, 
And give Torpedo his benumbing charm; 
Or, through Galvanic chain-work as they pass, 
Convert the kindling water into gas. 

How at the poles opposing Ethers dwell. 
Attract the quivering needle, or repel. 
How Gravitation by immortal laws 
Surrounding matter to a centre draws; 30 

How Heat, pervading oceans, airs, and lands, 
With force uncheck'd the mighty mass expands; 
And last how born in elemental strife 
Beam'd the first spark, and lighten'd into Life. 



and by the gymnotus, are supposed to be similar to those of the Gal- 
vanic pile, as they are produced in water. Which water is decom- 
posed by the Galvanic pile and converted into oxygen and hydrogen 
was: see Additional Note XII. 

The magnetic ether may also be supposed to consist of two fluids, 
one of which attracts the needle, and the other repels it; and, per- 
haps, chemical affinities, and gravitation itself, may consist of two 
kinds of ether surrounding the particles of bodies, and may thence 
attract at one distance and repel at another; as appears when two 
insulated electrised balls are approached to each other, or when two 
small globules of mercury are pressed together. 



\ 

86 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Now in sweet tones the inquiring Muse express'd 
Her ardent wish; and thus the Fair address'd. 
" Priestess of Nature! whose exploring sight 
Pierces the realms of Chaos and of Night ; 
Of space unmeasured marks the first and last, 
Of endless time the present, future, past; 40 

Immortal Guide! O, now with accents kind 
Give to my ear the progress of the Mind. 
How loves, and tastes, and sympathies commence 
From evanescent notices of sense ? 
How from the yielding touch and rolling eyes 
The piles immense of human science rise? — 
With mind gigantic steps the puny Elf, 
And weighs and measures all things but himself!" 

The indulgent Beauty hears the grateful Muse, 
Smiles on her pupil, and her task renews. 50 

Attentive Nymphs in sparkling squadrons throng, 
And choral Virgins listen to the song; 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 87 

Pleased Fawns and Naiads crowd in silent rings, 
And hovering Cupids stretch their purple wings. 

II. " First the new actions of the excited sense, 
Urged by appulses from without, commence; 
With these exertions pain or pleasure springs, 
And forms perceptions of external things. 
Thus, when illumined by the solar beams, 
Yon waving woods, green lawns, and sparkling streams, 
In one bright point by rays converging lie 6l 

Plann'd on the moving tablet of the eye ; 
The mind obeys the silver goads of light, 
And Irritation moves the nerves of sight. 



And Irritation moves, 1. 64. Irritation is an exertion or change of 
some extreme part of the sensorium residing in the muscles or organs 
of sense in consequence of the appulses of external bodies. The 
word perception includes both the action of the organ of sense in 
consequence of the impact of external objects and our attention to 
that action; that is, it expresses both the motion of the organ of 
sense, or idea, and the pain or pleasure that succeeds or accompanies 
it. Irritative ideas are those which are preceded by irritation, which 
is excited by objects external to the organs of sense: as the idea of 
that tree, which cither I attend to, or which I shun in walking near 
it without attention. In the former case it is termed perception, in 
the latter it is termed simply an irritative idea. 



88 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iii. 

44 These acts repeated rise from joys or pains, 
And swell Imagination's flowing trains; 
So in dread dreams amid the silent night 
Grim spectre-forms the shuddering sense affright; 
Or Beauty's idol-image, as it moves, 
Charms the closed eye with graces, smiles, and loves; JO 
Each passing form the pausing heart delights, 
And young Sensation every nerve excites* 

44 Oft from sensation quick Volition springs, 
When pleasure thrills us, or when anguish stings; 



And young Sensation, 1. 72. Sensation is an exertion or change of 
the central parts of the sensorium or of the whole of it, beginning 
at some of those extreme parts of it which reside in the muscles or 
organs of sense. Sensitive ideas are those which are preceded by the 
sensation of pleasure or pain, are termed Imagination, and constitute 
our dreams and reveries. 

Quick Volition springs, 1. 73. Volition is an exertion or change of 
the central parts of the sensorium, or of the whole of it terminating 
in some of those extreme parts of it which reside in the muscles and 
organs of sense. The vulgar use of the word memory is too unlimited 
for our purpose: those ideas which we voluntarily recall are here 
termed ideas of recollection, as when we will to repeat the alphabet 
backwards. And those ideas which are suggested to us by preceding 
ideas are hefe termed ideas of suggestion, as whilst we repeat the 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 89 

Hence Recollection calls with voice sublime 

Immersed ideas from the wrecks of Time, 

With potent charm in lucid trains displays 

Eventful stories of forgotten days. 

Hence Reason's efforts good with ill contrast, 

Compare the present, future, and the past; 80 

Each passing moment, unobserved restrain 

The wild discordancies of Fancy's train; 

But leave unchecked the Night's ideal streams, 

Or, sacred Muses ! your meridian dreams. 

alphabet in the usual order; when by habits previously acquired B is 
suggested by A, and C by B, without any effort of deliberation. 
Reasoning is that operation of the sensorium by which we excite 
two or many tribes of ideas, and then reexcite the ideas in which 
they differ or correspond. If we determine this difference, it is 
called judgment; if we in vain endeavour to determine it, it is called 
doubting. 

If we reexcite the ideas in which they differ, it is called distin- 
guishing. If we reexcite those in which they correspond, it is called 
comparing. 

Each passing moment, 1. 81. During our waking hours, we per- 
petually compare the passing trains of our ideas with the known 
system of nature, and reject those which are incongruous with it; 
this is explained in Zoonomia, Sect XVII. S. 7. and is there termed 
Intuitive Analogy. When we sleep, the faculty of volition ceases to 
act, and in consequence the uncompared trains of ideas become 
incongruous and form the farrago of our dreams; in which we never 
experience any surprise, or sense of novelty. 

N 



SO ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iii (! 

" And last Suggestion's mystic power describes 
Ideal hosts arranged in trains or tribes. 
So when the Nymph with volant finger rings 
Her dulcet harp, and shakes the sounding strings; 
As with soft voice she trills the enamour'd song, 
Successive notes, unwill'd, the strain prolong; 90 

The transient trains Association steers, 
And sweet vibrations charm the astonish'd ears. 

" On rapid feet o'er hills, and plains, and rocks, 
Speed the scared leveret and rapacious fox; 
On rapid pinions cleave the fields above 
The hawk descending, and escaping dove; 
With nicer nostril track the tainted ground 
The hungry vulture, and the prowling hound; 



Association steers, 1. 91. Association is an exertion or change of 
some extreme part of the sensorium residing in the muscles and 
organs of sense in consequence of some antecedent or attendant 
fibrous contractions. Associate ideas, therefore, are those which are. 
preceded by other ideas or muscular motions, without the interven- 
tion of irritation, sensation, or volition between them; these are also 
termed ideas of suggestion. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 91 

Converge reflected light with nicer eye 

The midnight owl, and microscopic fly; 100 

With finer ear pursue their nightly course 

The listening lion, and the alarmed horse. 

" The branching forehead with diverging horns 
Crests the bold bull, the jealous stag adorns; 
Fierce rival boars with side-long fury wield 
The pointed tusk, and guard with shoulder- shield; 
Bounds the dread tiger o'er the affrighted heath 
Arm'd with sharp talons, and resistless teeth; 
The pouncing eagle bears in clinched claws 
The struggling lamb, and rends with ivory jaws; 110 
The tropic eel, electric in his ire, 
Alarms the waves with unextinguished fire; 

The branching forehead, 1. 103. The peculiarities of the shapes of 
animals which distinguish them from each other, are enumerated in 
Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIX. 4. 8. on Generation, and are believed to 
have been gradually formed from similar living fibres, and are varied 
by reproduction. Many of these parts of animals are there shown 
to have arisen from their three great desires of lust, hunger, and 
security. 

The tropic eel, 1. 111. Gymnotus electricus. 



92 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto in. 

The fly of night illumes his airy way, 
And seeks with lucid lamp his sleeping prey; 
Fierce on his foe the poisoning serpent springs, 
And insect armies dart their venom'd stings. 

" Proud Man alone in wailing weakness born, 
No horns protect him, and no plumes adorn; 
No finer powers of nostril, ear, or eye, 
Teach the young Reasoner to pursue or fly. — 120 
Nerved with fine touch above the bestial throngs, 
The hand, first gift of Heaven! to man belongs; 



The fly of night, 1. 113. Lampyris noctiluca. Fire-fly. 

The hand, first gift of Heaven, 1. 1£2. The human species in some 
of their sensations are much inferior to animals, yet the accuracy of 
the sense of touch, which they possess in so eminent a degree, gives 
them a great superiority of understanding; as is well observed by 
the ingenious Mr. Buffon. The extremities of other animals termi- 
nate in horns, and hoofs, and claws, very unfit for the sensation of 
touch; whilst the human hand is finely adapted to encompass its 
object with this organ of sense. Those animals who have clavicles 
or collar-bones, and thence use their fore-feet like hands, as cats, 
squirrels, monkeys, are more ingenious than other quadrupeds, ex- 
cept the elephant, who has a fine sense at the extremity of his pro- 
boscis; and many insects from the possessing finer organs of touch 
have greater ingenuity, as spiders, bees, wasps. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 93 

Untipt with claws the circling fingers close, 

With rival points the bending thumbs oppose, 

Trace the nice lines of Form with sense refined, 

And clear ideas charm the thinking mind. 

Whence the fine organs of the touch impart 

Ideal figure, source of every art; 

Time, motion, number, sunshine or the storm, 

But mark varieties in Nature's form. 130 



Trace the nice lines of form, 1. 125. When the idea of solidity is 
excited a part of the extensive organ of touch is compressed hy some 
external body, and this part of the sensorium so compressed exactly 
resembles in figure the figure of the body that compressed it. Hence 
"when we acquire the idea of solidity, we acquire at the same time 
the idea of figure; and this idea of figure, or motion of a part of the 
organ of touch, exactly resembles in its figure the figure of the body 
that occasions it; and thus exactly acquaints us with this property of 
the external world. 

Now, as the whole universe with all its parts possesses a certain 
form or figure, if any part of it moves, that form or figure of the 
whole is varied. Hence, as motion is no other than a perpetual vari- 
ation of figure, our idea of motion is also a real resemblance of the 
motion that produced it. 

Hence arises the certainty of the mathematical sciences, as they 
explain these properties of bodies, which are exactly resembled by 
our ideas of them, whilst we are obliged to collect almost all our 
other knowledge from experiment; that is, by observing the effects 
exerted by one body upon another. 



m ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

" Slow could the tangent organ wander o'er 
The rock-built mountain, and the winding shore; 
No apt ideas could the pigmy mite, 
Or embryon emmet to the touch excite; 
But as each mass the solar ray reflects, 
The eye's clear glass the transient beams collects; 
Bends to their focal point the rays that swerve, 
And paints the living image on the nerve. 
So in some village-barn, or festive hall 
The spheric lens illumes the whiten'd wall ; 1 40 

O'er the bright field successive figures fleet, 
And motley shadows dance along the sheet. — 
Symbol of solid forms is colour'd light, 
And the mute language of the touch is sight. 



The mute language of the touch, 1. 144. Our eyes observe a dif- 
ference of colour, or of shade, in the prominences and depressions 
of objects, and that those shades uniformly vary when the sense of 
touch observes any variation. Hence when the retina becomes stimu- 
lated by colours or shades of light in a certain form, as in a circular 
spot, we know by experience that this is a sign that a tangible body 
is before us; and that its figure is resembled by the miniature figure 
of the part of the organ of vision that is thus stimulated. 

Here whilst the stimulated part of the retina resembles exactly 



<^anto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. . 95 

" Hence in Life's portico starts young Surprise 
With step retreating, and expanded eyes; 



the visible figure of the whole in miniature, the various kinds of 
stimuli from different colours mark the visible figures of the minuter 
parts; and by habit we instantly recall the tangible figures. 

So that though our visible ideas resemble in miniature the out- 
line of the figure of coloured bodies, in other respects they serve 
only as a language, which by acquired associations introduce the 
tangible ideas of bodies. Hence it is, that this sense is so readily 
deceived by the art of the painter to our amusement and instruction. 
The reader will find much very curious knowledge on this subject in 
Bishop Berkeley's Essay on Vision, a work of great ingenuity. 

Starts young Surprise, 1. 145. Surprise is occasioned by the sud- 
den interruption of the usual trains of our ideas by any violent, 
stimulus from external objects, as from the unexpected discharge of 
a pistol, and hence does not exist in our dreams, because our external 
senses are closed or inirritable. The fetus in the womb must expe- 
rience many sensations, as of resistance, figure, fluidity, warmth, 
motion, rest, exertion, taste; and must, consequently possess trains 
both of waking and sleeping ideas. Surprise must therefore be 
strongly excited at its nativity, as those trains of ideas must instantly 
be dissevered by the sudden and violent sensations occasioned by the 
dry and cold atmosphere, the hardness of external bodies, light; 
sound, and odours; which are accompanied with pleasure or pain 
according to their quantity or intensity. 

As some of these sensations become familiar by repetition, other 
objects not previously attended to present themselves, and produce 
the idea of novelty, which is a less degree of surprise, and like that 
is not perceived in our dreams, though for another reason ; because 
in sleep we possess no voluntary power to compare our trains of ideas 
with our previous knowledge of nature, and do not therefore perceive 
their difference by intuitive analogy from what usually occurs. 

As the novelty of our ideas is generally attended with pleasurable 
sensation, from this arises Curiosity, or.a desire of examining a vavi< t 



96 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

The virgin, Novelty, whose radiant train 

Soars o'er the clouds, or sinks beneath the main, 

With sweetly-mutable seductive charms 

Thrills the young sense, the tender heart alarms. 150 

Then Curiosity with tracing hands 

And meeting lips the lines of form demands, 

Buoy'd on light step, o'er ocean, earth, and sky, 

Rolls the bright mirror of her restless eye. 

While in wild groups tumultuous Passions stand, 

And Lust and Hunger head the Motley band; 

Then Love and Rage succeed, and Hope and Fear; 

And nameless Vices close the gloomy rear; 

Or young Philanthropy with voice divine 

Convokes the adoring Youth to Virtue's shrine; 1(30 

of objects, hoping to find novelty, and the pleasure consequent to this 
degree of surprise; see Additional Note VII. 3. 

And meeting lips, 1. 152. Young children put small bodies into 
their mouths, when they are satiated with food, as well as when they 
are hungry, not with design to taste them, but use their lips as an 
organ of touch to distinguish the shape of them. Puppies, whose 
toes are terminated with nails, and who do not much use their fore- 
feet as hands, seem to have no other means of acquiring a knowledge 
of the forms of external bodies, and are therefore perpetually playing 
with things by taking them between their lips. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 97 

Who with raised eye and pointing finger leads 
To truths celestial, and immortal deeds. 

III. " As the pure language of the Sight commands 
The clear ideas furnish'd by the hands; 
Beauty's fine forms attract our wondering eyes, 
And soft alarms the pausing heart surprise. 
Warm from its cell the tender infant born 
Feels the cold chill of Life's aerial morn; 
Seeks with spread hands the bosoms velvet orbs, 
With closing lips the milky fount absorbs; 170 

And, as compress'd the dulcet streams distil, 
Drinks warmth and fragrance from the living rill; 
Eyes with mute rapture every waving line, 
Prints with adoring kiss the Paphian shrine, 
And learns erelong, the perfect form confess'd, 
Ideal Beauty from its Mother's breast. 

Seeks with spread hands, 1. 169. These eight heautiful lines are 
copied from Mr. Bilsborrow's Address prefixed to Zoonomia, and are 
translated from that work ; Sect. XVI. 6. 

Ideal Beauty, 1. 176. Sentimental Love, as distinguished from the 

O 



98 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto in. 

" Now on swift wheels descending like a star 
Alights young Eros from his radiant car; 
On angel-wings attendant Graces move, 
And hail the God of Sentimental Love, 180 



animal passion of that name, with which it is frequently accompanied, 
consists in the desire or sensation of beholding, embracing, and sa- 
luting a beautiful object. 

The characteristic of beauty therefore is that it is the object of love; 
and though many other objects are in common language called beau- 
tiful, yet they are only called so metaphorically, and ought to be 
termed agreeable. A Grecian temple may give us the pleasurable 
idea of sublimity, a Gothic temple may give us the pleasurable idea 
of variety, and a modern house the pleasurable idea of utility; music 
and poetry may inspire our love by association of ideas; but none of 
these, except metaphorically, can be termed beautiful, as we have no 
wish to embrace or salute them. 

Our perception of beauty consists in our recognition by the sense 
of vision of those objects, first, which have before inspired our love 
by the pleasure, which they have afforded to many of our senses; as 
to our sense of warmth, of touch, of smell, of taste, hunger and 
thirst; and, secondly, which bear any analogy of form to such 
objects. 

Alights young Eros, 1. 178. There were two deities of Love belong- 
ing to the heathen mythology, the one said to be celestial, and the 
other terrestrial. Aristophanes says, " Sable-winged Night produced 
an egg, from which sprung up like a blossom Eros, the lovely, the 
desirable, with his glossy golden wings." See Botanic Garden, 
Canto I. 1.412. Note. The other deity of Love, Cupido, seems of 
much later date, as he is not mentioned in the works of Homer, 
where there were so many apt situations to have introduced him. 




EROS & DIOIE. 



^/A*. &rt<zm#6tri/ O&d- /err ?/& wyia^Jstwie- aM>u/j . 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 99 

Earth at his feet extends her flowery bed, 
And bends her silver blossoms round his head; 
Dark clouds dissolve, the warring winds subside, 
And smiling ocean calms his tossing tide, 
O'er the bright morn meridian lustres play, 
And Heaven salutes him with a flood of day. 

" Warm as the sun-beam, pure as driven snows, 
The enamour'd God for young Dione glows; 
Drops the still tear, with sweet attention sighs, 
And woos the Goddess with adoring eyes; 1QO 

Marks her white neck beneath the gauze's fold, 
Her ivory shoulders, and her locks of gold; 
Drinks with mute ecstacy the transient glow, 
Which warms and tints her bosom's rising snow. 
With holy kisses wanders o'er her charms, 
And clasps the Beauty in Platonic arms; 

Earth at his feet, 1, 181. 

Te, Dea, te fugiunt venti, te niibila cocli, 
Adventumque tuum; tibi suaves daedala tcllus 
Submittit flores; tibi rident sequoxa ponti; 
Placatumque nitet diftuso luniinc ccelum. Luc ret. 



100 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Or if the dewy hands of Sleep, unbid, 
O'er her blue eye-balls close the lovely lid, 
Watches each nascent smile,, and fleeting grace, 
That plays in day-dreams o'er her blushing face; 200 
Counts the fine mazes of the curls, that break 
Round her fair ear, and shade her damask cheek; 
Drinks the pure fragrance of her breath, and sips 
With tenderest touch the roses of her lips; — 
O'er female hearts with chaste seduction reigns, 
And binds Society in silken chains. 

IV. *' If the wide eye the wavy lawns explores, 
The bending woodlands, or the winding shores, 



The wavy lawtis, 1.207- When the babe, soon after it is born into 
this cold world, is applied to its mother's bosom ; its sense of per- 
ceiving warmth is first agreeably affected; next its sense of smell is 
delighted with the odour of her milk; then its taste is gratified by the 
flavour of it; afterwards the appetites of hunger and of thirst afford 
pleasure by the possession of their objects, and by the subsequent di- 
gestion of the aliment; and lastly, the sense of touch is delighted by 
the softness and smoothness of the milky fountain, the source of such 
variety of happiness. 

All these various kinds of pleasure at length become associated 
with the form of the mother's breast; which the infant embraces with 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 101 

Hills, whose green sides with soft protuberance rise, 

Or the blue concave of the vaulted skies; — 210 

Or scans with nicer gaze the pearly swell 

Of spiral volutes round the twisted shell; 

Or undulating sweep, whose graceful turns 

Bound the smooth surface of Etrurian urns, 

When on fine forms the waving lines impress'd 

Give the nice curves, which swell the female breast; 

The countless joys the tender Mother pours 

Round the soft cradle of our infant hours, 

In lively trains of unextinct delight 

Rise in our bosoms recognized by sight ; 220 



its hands, presses with its lips, and watches Avith its eyes; and thus 
acquires more accurate ideas of the form of its mother's bosom, than 
of the odour and flavour or warmth, which it perceives by its other 
senses. And hence at our maturer years, when any object of vision 
is presented to us, which by its waving or spiral lines bears any simi- 
litude to the form of the female bosom, whether it be found in a land- 
scape with soft gradations of rising and descending surface, or in the 
forms of some antique vases, or in other works of the pencil or the 
chisel, we feel a general glow of delight, which seems to influence all 
our senses; and if the object be not too large, we experience an at- 
traction to embrace it with our arms, and to salute it with our lips, 
as we did in our early infancy the bosom of our mother. And thus 



102 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Fond Fancy's eye recalls the form divine, 
And Taste sits smiling upon Beauty's shrine. 

" Where Egypt's pyramids gigantic stand, 
And stretch their shadows o'er the shuddering sand; 
Or where high rocks o'er ocean's dashing floods 
Wave high in air their panoply of woods; 
Admiring Taste delights to stray beneath 
With eye uplifted, and forgets to breathe; 
Or, as aloft his daring footsteps climb, 
Crests their high summits with his arm sublime. 230 



we find, according to the ingenious idea of Hogarth, that the waving 
lines of beauty were originally taken from the temple of Venus. 

With his arm sublime, 1 230. Objects of taste -have been generally 
divided into the beautiful, the sublime, and the new ; and lately to 
these have been added the picturesque. The beautiful so well ex- 
plained in Hogarth's analysis of beauty, consists of curved lines and 
smooth surfaces, as expressed in the preceding note; any object 
larger than usual, as a very large temple or a very large mountain, 
gives us the idea of sublimity; with which is often confounded the 
terrific, and the melancholic: what is now termed picturesque in- 
cludes objects, which are principally neither sublime nor beautiful, 
but which by their variety and intricacy joined with a due degree of 
regularity or uniformity convey to the mind an agreeable sentiment 
of novelty. Many other agreeable sentiments may be excited by vi- 
sible objects, thus to the sublime and beautiful may be added the 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. i<>3 

" Where mouldering columns mark the lingering wreck 
Of Thebes, Palmyra, Babylon, Balbec; 
The prostrate obelisk, or shatter'd dome, 
Uprooted pedestal, and yawning tomb, 
On loitering steps reflective Taste surveys 
With folded arms and sympathetic gaze; 
Charm'd with poetic Melancholy treads 
O'er ruin'd towns and desolated meads; 
Or rides sublime on Time's expanded wings, 
And. views the fate of ever-changing things. 240 

" When Beauty's streaming eyes her woes express, 
Or Virtue braves unmerited distress; 



terrific, tragic, melancholic, artless, &c. while novelty superinduces 
a charm upon them all. See Additional Note XIII. 

Poetic melancholy treads, 1. 237- The pleasure arising from the con- 
templation of the ruins of ancient grandeur or of ancient happiness, 
and here termed poetic melancholy, arises from a combination of 
the painful idea of sorrow with the pleasurable idea of the grandeur or 
happiness of past times; and becomes very interesting to us by fixing 
our attention more strongly on that grandeur and happiness, as the 
passion of Pity mentioned in the succeeding note is a combination of 
the painful idea of sorrow with the pleasurable one of beauty, or of 
virtue. 



104 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Love sighs in sympathy, with pain combined, 
And new-born Pity charms the kindred mind; 
The enamour'd Sorrow every cheek bedews, 
And Taste impassion'd woos the tragic Muse. 

ts The rush-thatch'd cottage on the purple moor, 
Where ruddy children frolic round the door, 
The moss-grown antlers of the aged oak, 
The shaggy locks that fringe the colt unbroke, 250 



The tragic Muse, 1. 246. Why we are delighted with the scenical 
representations of Tragedy, which draw tears from our eyes, has been 
variously explained by different writers. The same distressful circum- 
stance attending an ugly or wicked person affects us with grief or dis- 
gust ; but when distress occurs to a beauteous or virtuous person, the 
pleasurable idea of beauty or of virtue becomes mixed with the pain- 
ful one of sorrow and the passion of Pity is produced, which is a com- 
bination of love or esteem with sorrow; and becomes highly interest- 
ing to us by fixing our attention more intensely on .the beauteous or 
virtuous person. 

Other distressful scenes have been supposed to give pleasure to the 
spectator from exciting a comparative idea of his own happiness, as 
when a shipwreck is viewed by a person safe on shore, as mentioned 
by Lucretius, L. 3. But these dreadful situations belong rather to 
the terrible, or the horrid, than to the tragic; and may be objects 
of curiosity from their novelty, but not of Taste, and must suggest 
much more pain than pleasure. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 105 

The bearded goat with nimble eyes, that glare 
Through the long tissue of his hoary hair; — 
As with quick foot he climbs some ruin'd wall, 
And crops the ivy, which prevents its fall; — 
With rural charms the tranquil mind delight, 
And form a picture to the admiring sight. 
While Taste with pleasure bends his eye surprised 
In modern days at Nature unchastised. 

" The Genius-Form, on silver slippers born, 
With fairer dew-drops gems the rising morn; 260 

Sheds o'er meridian skies a softer light, 
And decks with brighter pearls the brow of night ; 

Nature unchastised, 1. £58. In cities or their vicinity, and even in 
the cultivated parts of the country we rarely see undisguised nature; 
the fields are ploughed, the meadows mown, the shrubs planted in 
rows for hedges, the trees deprived of their lower branches, and the 
animals, as horses, dogs, and sheep, are mutilated in respect to their 
tails or ears; such is the useful or ill-employed activity of mankind ! 
all which alterations add to the formality of the soil, plants, trees, or 
animals; whence when natural objects are occasionally presented to 
us, as an uncultivated forest and its wild inhabitants, we are not only 
amused with greater variety of form, but are at the same time en- 
chanted by the charm of novelty, which is a less degree of Surprise, 
already spoken of in note on 1. 145 of this Canto. 

P 



106 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto m. 

"With finer blush the vernal blossom glows, 
With sweeter breath enamour'd Zephyr blows, 
The limpid streams with gentler murmurs pass, 
And gayer colours tinge the watery glass, 
Charm'd round his steps along the enchanted groves 
Flit the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves. 

V. " Alive, each moment of the transient hour, 
When Rest accumulates sensorial power, 2j0 



When rest accumulates, 1. 270. The accumulation of the spirit of 
animation, when those parts of the system rest, which are usually in 
motion, produces a disagreeable sensation. Whence the pain of cold 
and of hunger, and the irksomeness of a continued attitude, and of an 
indolent life : and hence the propensity to action in those confined 
animals, which have been accustomed to activity, as is seen in the 
motions of a squirrel in a cage; which uses perpetual exertion to ex- 
haust a part of its accumulated sensorial power. This is one source 
of our general propensity to action; another perhaps arises from our 
curiosity or expectation of novelty mentioned in the note on 1. 145. 
of this canto. 

But the immediate cause of our propensity to imitation above that 
of other animals arises from the greater facility, with which by the 
sense of touch we acquire the ideas of the outlines of objects, and 
afterwards in consequence by the sense of sight; this seems to have 
been observed by Aristotle, who calls man, " the imitative animal;" 
see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. Hff 

The impatient Senses, goaded to contract, 
Forge new ideas, changing as they act; 
And, in long streams dissever'd, or concrete 
In countless tribes, the fleeting forms repeat. 
Which rise excited in Volition's trains, 
Or link the sparkling rings of Fancy's chains; 
Or, as they flow from each translucent source, 
Pursue Association's endless course. 

" Hence when the inquiring hands with contact fine 

Trace on hard forms the circumscribing line; 280 

Which then the language of the rolling eyes 

From distant scenes of earth and heaven supplies; 

Those clear ideas of the touch and sight 

Rouse the quick sense to anguish or delight; 

Whence the fine power of Imitation springs, 

And apes the outlines of external things; 

With ceaseless action to the world imparts 

All moral virtues, languages, and arts. 

All moral virtues, 1. 288. See the sequel of this canto 1. 453. on 



108 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto nr. 

First the charm'd Mind mechanic powers collects, 
Means for some end, and causes of effects; 290 

Then learns from other Minds their joys and fears, 
Contagious smiles and sympathetic tears. 

" What one fine stimulated Sense discerns, 
Another Sense by Imitation learns. — 
So in the graceful dance the step sublime 
Learns from the ear the concordance of Time. 
So, when the pen of some young artist prints 
Recumbent Nymphs in Titian's living tints; 
The glowing limb, fair cheek, and flowing hair, 
Respiring bosom, and seductive air, 300 



sympathy; and 1. 331 on language; and the subsequent lines on the 
arts of painting and architecture. 

Another sense, 1. 2^4. As the part of the organs of touch or of sight, 
which is stimulated into action by a tangible or visible object, must 
resemble in figure at least the figure of that object, as it thus con- 
stitutes an idea; it may be said to imitate the figure of that object; 
and thus imitation may be esteemed coeval with the existence both of 
man and other animals : but this would confound perception with 
imitation; which latter is better defined from the actions of one sense 
copying those of another. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 109 

He justly copies with enamour'd sigh 
From Beauty's image pictured on his eye^ 

" Thus when great Angelo in wondering Rome 
Fix'd the vast pillars of Saint Peter's dome, 
Rear'd rocks on rocks sublime, and hung on high 
A new Pantheon in the affrighted sky.. 
Each massy pier, now join'd' and now aloof, 
The figured architraves, and vaulted roof,.. 

Thus when great Angelo. I. 303. The origin of this propensity to^ 
imitation has not been deduced from any known principle; when any 
action presents itself to the view of a child, as of whetting a knife, 
or threading a needle; the parts of this action in respect of time, 
motion, figure, are imitated by parts of the retina of his eye; to per- 
form this action therefore with his hands is easier to him than to in- 
vent any new action ; because it consists in repeating with another set 
of fibres, viz. with the moving muscles, what he had just performed 
by some parts of the retina; just as in dancing* we transfer the times 
of the motions from the actions of the auditory nerves to the muscles 
of the limbs. Imitation therefore consists of repetition, which is the 
easiest kind of animal action ; as the ideas or motions become presently 
associated together; which adds to the facility of their production; 
as shown in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 2. 

It should be added, that as our ideas, when we perceive external 
objects, are believed to consist in the actions of the immediate organs 
of sense in consequence of the stimulus of those objects; so when \w 
think of external objects, our ideas are believed to consist in the re- 
petitions of the actions of the immediate organs of sense, excited by 
the other sensorial powers of volition, sensation, or association. 



110 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto in. 

Ailes, whose broad curves gigantic ribs sustain, 

Where holy echoes chant the adoring strain; 310 

The central altar, sacred to the Lord, 

Admired by Sages, and by Saints ador'd, 

Whose brazen canopy ascends sublime 

On spiral columns unafraid of Time, 

Were first by Fancy in ethereal dyes 

Plann'd on the rolling tablets of his eyes; 

And his true hand with imitation fine 

Traced from his Retina the grand design. 

" The Muse of Mimicry in every age 
With silent language charms the attentive stage; 320 



The Muse of Mimicry, 1. 319. Mucli of the pleasure received from 
"the drawings of flowers finely finished, or of portraits, is derived 
from their imitation or resemblance of the objects or persons which 
they represent. The same occurs in the pleasure we receive from 
mimicry on the stage; we are surprised at the accuracy of its enacted 
resemblance. Some part of the pleasure received from architecture, 
as when we contemplate the internal structure of gothic temples, as 
of King's College chapel in Cambridge, or of Lincoln Cathedral, 
may arise also from their imitation or resemblance of those superb 
avenues of large trees, which were formerly appropriated to religious 
ceremonies. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. in 

The Monarch's stately step, and tragic pause, 
The Hero bleeding in his country's cause, 
O'er her fond child the dying Mother's tears, 
The Lover's ardor, and the Virgin's fears; 
The tittering Nymph, that tries her comic task, 
Bounds on the scene, and peeps behind her mask, 
The Punch and Harlequin, and graver throng, 
That shake the theatre with dance and song, 
With endless trains of Angers, Loves, and Mirths, 
Owe to the Muse of Mimicry their births. 330 

44 Hence to clear images of form belong 
The sculptor's statue, and the poet's song, 
The painter's landscape, and the builder's plan, 
And Imitation marks the mind of Man. 

Imitation marks, 1. 334. Many other curious instances of one part 
of the animal system imitating another part of it, as in some con- 
tagious diseases; and also of some animals imitating each other, are 
given in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 3. To which may be added, 
that this propensity to imitation not only appears in the actions of 
children, hut in all the customs and fashions of the world : many 
thousands tread in the beaten paths of others, who precede or accom- 
pany them, for one who traverses regions of his own discovery. 



112 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto m, 

VI. " When strong desires or soft sensations move 
The astonish'd Intellect to rage or love; 
Associate tribes of fibrous motions rise, 
Flush the red cheek, or light the laughing eyes. 
Whence ever-active Imitation finds 
The ideal trains, that pass in kindred minds; 340 

Her mimic arts associate thoughts excite 
And the first Language enters -at the sight 



And the first -Language, 1. 342. There are two ways by which we 
become acquainted with the passions of others: first, by having ob- 
served the effects of them, as of fear or anger, on our own bodies, 
•we know at sight when others are under the influence of these affec- 
tions. So children long before they can spea"k, or understand the 
language of their parents, may be frightened by an angry counte- 
nance, or soothed by smiles and blandishments. 

Secondly, when we put ourselves into the attitude that any pas- 
sion naturally occasions, we soon in some degree acquire that passion; 
hence when those that scold indulge themselves in loud oaths and 
violent actions of the arms, they increase their anger by the mode 
of expressing themselves; and, on the contrary, the counterfeited 
smile of pleasure in disagreeable company soon brings along with it 
a portion of the reality, as is well illustrated by Mr. Burke. (Essay 
on the Sublime and Beautiful.) 

These are natural signs by which we understand each other, and 
on this slender basis is built all human language. For without some 
natural signs no artificial ones could have been invented or under- 
stood, as is very ingeniously observed by Dr. Reid. (Inquiry into 
the Human Mind.) 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 113 

" Thus jealous quails or village-cocks inspect 
Each others necks with stiffen'd plumes erect; 
Smit with the wordless eloquence, they know 
The rival passion of the threatening foe. 
So when the famish'd wolves at midnight howl, 
Fell serpents hiss, or fierce hyenas growl; 
Indignant Lions rear their bristling mail, 
And lash their sides with undulating tail. 350 

Or when the Savage-Man with clenched fist 
Parades, the scowling champion of the list ; 
With brandish'd arms, and eyes that roll to know 
Where first to fix the meditated blow; 
Association's mystic power combines 
Internal passions with external signs. 

■ 

" From these dumb gestures first the exchange began 
Of viewless thought in bird, and beast, and man; 
And still the stage by mimic art displays 
Historic pantomime in modern days; 360 



114 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

And hence the enthusiast orator affords 
Force to the feebler eloquence of words. 

"Thus the first Langu age, when we fro wn'd or smiled, 
Rose from the cradle, Imitation's child; 
Next to each thought associate sound accords, 
And forms the dulcet symphony of words ; 
The tongue, the lips articulate; the throat 
With soft vibration modulates the note; 
Love, pity, war, the shout, the song, the prayer 
Form quick concussions of elastic air. 3 70 

" Hence the first accents bear in airy rings 
The vocal symbols of ideal things, 



Hence the first accents, 1. 371. Words were originally the signs or 
names of individual ideas; but in all known languages many of them 
by changing their terminations express more than one idea, as in 
the cases of nouns, and the moods and tenses of verbs. Thus a whip 
suggests a single idea of that instrument; but "to whip," suggests 
an idea of action, joined with that of the instrument, and is then 
called a verb; and " to be whipped," suggests an idea of being acted 
upon or suffering. Thus in most languages two ideas are suggested 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 115 

Name each nice change appulsive powers supply 

To the quick sense of touch, or ear or eye. 

Or in fine traits abstracted forms suggest 

Of Beauty, Wisdom, Number, Motion, Rest; 

Or, as within reflex ideas move, 

Trace the light steps of Reason, Rage, or Love. 

The next new sounds adjunctive thoughts recite, 

As hard, odorous, tuneful, sweet, or white. 380 



by one word by changing its termination ; as amor, love ; amare, to 
love; amari, to be loved. 

Nouns are the names of the ideas of things, first as they are 
received by the stimulus of objects, or as they are afterwards re- 
peated; secondly, they are names of more abstracted ideas, which 
do not suggest at the same time the external objects, by which they 
were originally excited; or thirdly, of the operations of our minds, 
which are termed reflex ideas by metaphysical writers; or lastly, 
they are the names of our ideas of parts or properties of objects; and 
are termed by grammarians nouns adjective. 

Verbs are also in reality names of our ideas of things, or nouns, 
with the addition of another idea to them, as of acting or suffering; 
or of more than one other annexed idea, as of time, and also of exist- 
ence. These with the numerous abbreviations, so well illustrated by 
Mr. Home Tooke in his Diversions of Purley, make up the general 
theory of language, which consists of the symbols of ideas repre- 
sented by vocal or written words; or by parts of those words, as 
their terminations ; or by their disposition in respect to their order 
or succession; as further explained in Additional Note XIV. 



116 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

The next the fleeting images select 
Of action, suffering, causes and effect; 
Or mark existence, with the march sublime 
O'er earth and ocean of recording Time. 

" The Giant Form on Nature's centre stands, 
And waves in ether his unnumber'd hands; 
Whirls the bright planets in their silver spheres, 
And the vast sun round other systems steers; 
Till the last trump amid the thunder's roar 
Sound the dread Sentence " Time shall be no more!'* 

" Last steps Abbreviation, bold and strong, 3Q1 
And leads the volant trains of words along; 
With sweet loquacity to Hermes springs, 
And decks his forehead and his feet with wings. 

VII. " As the soft lips and pliant tongue are taught 
With other minds to interchange the thought; 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 1 17 

And sound, the symbol of the sense, explains 

In parted links the long ideal trains; 

From clear conceptions of external things 

The facile power of Recollection springs. 400 

" Whence Reason's empire o'er the world presides, 
And man from brute, and man from man divides; 



In parted links, 1. 398. As our ideas consist of successive trains 
of the motions, or changes of figure, of the extremities of the nerves 
of one or more of our senses, as of the optic or auditory nerves; 
these successive trains of motion, or configuration, are in common 
life divided into many links, to each of which a word or name is 
given, and it is called an idea. This chain of ideas may be broken 
into more or fewer links, or divided in different parts of it, by the 
customs of different people. Whence the meanings of the words of 
one language cannot always be exactly expressed by those of another; 
and hence the acquirement of different languages in their infancy 
may affect the modes of thinking and reasoning of whole nations, or 
of different classes of society; as the words of them do not accurately 
suggest the same ideas, or parts of ideal trains; a circumstance which 
has not been sufficiently analysed. 

Whence Reasons empire,!. 401. The facility of the use of the 
voluntary power, which is owing to the possession of the clear ideas 
acquired by our superior sense of touch, and afterwards of vision, 
distinguishes man from brutes, and has given him the empire of 
the world, with the power of improving nature by the exertions 
of art. 

Reasoning is that operation of the sensorium by which we excite 
two or many tribes of ideas, and then reexcite the ideas in which 
they differ or correspond. If we determine this difference, it is 



118 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Compares and measures by imagined lines 

Ellipses, circles, tangents, angles, sines; 

Repeats with nice libration, and decrees 

In what each differs, and in what agrees; 

With quick Volitions unfatigued selects 

Means for some end, and causes of effects; 

All human science worth the name imparts, 

And builds on Nature's base the works of Arts. 410 

" The Wasp, fine architect, surrounds his domes 
With paper-foliage, and suspends his combs; 



called judgment; if we in vain endeavour to determine it, it is called 
doubting. 

If we reexcite the ideas in which they differ, it is called distin- 
guishing. If we reexcite those in which they correspond, it is called 
comparing. 

The Wasp, fine architect, 1.411. Those animals which possess a 
better sense of touch are, in general, more ingenious than others. 
Those which have claviculae, or collar-bones, and thence use the 
forefeet as hands, as the monkey, squirrel, rat, are more ingenious in 
seizing their prey or escaping from danger. And the ingenuity of 
the elephant appears to arise from the sense of touch at the extremity 
of his proboscis, which has a prominence on one side of its cavity 
like a thumb to close against the other side of it, by which I have 
seen him readily pick up a shilling which was thrown amongst the 
straw he stood upon. Hence the excellence of the sense of touch in 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 119 

Secured from frost the Bee industrious dwells, 

And fills for winter all her waxen cells; 

The cunning Spider with adhesive line 

Weaves his firm net immeasurably fine; 

The Wren, when embryon eggs her cares engross, 

Seeks the soft down, and lines the cradling moss; 

Conscious of change the Silkworm-Nymphs begin 

Attach'd to leaves their gluten-threads to spin; 420 

Then round and round they weave with circling heads 

Sphere within Sphere, and form their silken beds. 

— Say, did these fine volitions first commence 

From clear ideas of the tangent sense ; 

From sires to sons by imitation caught, 

Or in dumb language by tradition taught? 

Or did they rise in some primeval site 

Of larva-gnat, or microscopic mite; 

many insects seems to have given' them wonderful ingenuity so as to 
equal or even excel mankind in some of their arts and discoveries; 
many of which may have been acquired in situations previous to their 
present ones, as the great globe itself, and all that it inhabit, appear 
to be in a perpetual state of mutation and improvement; see Addi- 
tional Note IX. 



120 * ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

And with instructive foresight still await 

On each vicissitude of insect-state? — 430 

Wise to the present, nor to future blind, 

They link the reasoning reptile to mankind I 

— Stoop, selfish Pride! survey thy kindred forms, 

Thy brother Emmets, and thy sister Worms! 

44 Thy potent acts, Volition, still attend 
The means of pleasure to secure the end; 



Thy potent acts, Volition, 1. 435. It was before observed, how much 
the superior accuracy of our sense of touch contributes to increase 
our knowledge ; but it is the greater energy and activity of the power 
of volition, that marks mankind, and has given them the empire of the 
world. 

There is a criterion by which we may distinguish our voluntary 
acts or thoughts from those that are excited by our sensations: 
" The former are always employed about the means to acquire plea- 
surable objects, or to avoid painful ones; while the latter are em- 
ployed about the possession of those that are already in our power." 

The ideas and actions of brutes, like those of children, are almost 
perpetually produced by their present pleasures or their present 
pains; and they seldom busy themselves about the means of procurin» 
future bliss, or of avoiding future misery. 

Whilst the acquiring of languages, the making of tools, and the 
labouring for money, which are all only the means of procuring plea- 
sure; and the praying to the Deity, as another means to procure 
happiness, are characteristic of human nature. 



Canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 121 

To express his wishes and his wants design'd 

Language, the means, distinguishes Mankind; 

For future works in Art's ingenious schools 

His hands unwearied form and finish tools; 440 

He toils for money future bliss to share, 

And shouts to Heaven his mercenary prayer. 

Sweet Hope delights him, frowning Fear alarms, 

And Vice and Virtue court him to their arms. 

" Unenvied eminence, in Nature's plan 
Rise the reflective faculties of Man! 
Labour to Rest the thinking Few prefer! 
Know but to mourn! and reason but to err! — 
In Eden's groves, the cradle of the world, 
Bloom'd a fair tree with mystic flowers unfurl'd; 450 
On bending branches, as aloft it sprung, 
Forbid to taste, the fruit of Knowledge hung; 
Flow'd with sweet Innocence the tranquil hours, 
And Love and Beauty warm'd the blissful bowers. 

R 



m ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

Till our deluded Parents pluck'd, erelong, 

The tempting fruit, and gathered Right and Wrong; 

Whence Good and Evil, as in trains they pass, 

Reflection imaged on her polish' d glass; 

And Conscience felt, for blood by Hunger spilt, 

The pains of shame, of sympathy, and guilt I 460 

VIII. " Last, as observant Imitation stands, 
Turns her quick glance, and brandishes her hands, 
With mimic acts associate thoughts excites, 
And storms the soul with sorrows or delights; 
Life's shadowy scenes are brighten'd and refin'd, 
And soft emotions mark the feeling mind. 



And gathered Right and Wrong, 1. 456. Some philosophers have 
believed that the acquisition of knowledge diminishes the happiness 
of the possessor; an opinion which seems to have been inculcated by 
the history of our first parents, who are said to have become miser- 
able from eating of the tree of knowledge. But as the foresight 
and the power of mankind are much increased by their voluntary 
exertions in the acquirement of knowledge, they may undoubtedly 
avoid many sources of evil, and procure many sources of good ; and 
yet possess the pleasures of sense, or of imagination, as extensively 
as the brute or the savage. 

And soft emotions, 1. 466. From our aptitude to imitation arises 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 123 

" The Seraph, Sympathy, from Heaven descends, 
And bright o'er earth his beamy forehead bends; 
On Man's cold heart celestial ardor flings, 
And showers affection from his sparkling wings; 470 
Rolls o'er the world his mild benignant eye, 
Hears the lone murmur, drinks the whisper'd sigh; 
Lifts the closed latch of pale Misfortune's door, 
Opes the clench'd hand of Avarice to the poor, 
Unbars the prison, liberates the slave, 
Sheds his soft sorrows o'er the untimely grave, 
Points with uplifted hand to realms above, 
And charms the world with universal love. 

what is generally understood by the word sympathy, so well ex- 
plained by Dr. Smith of Glasgow. Thus the appearance of a cheerful 
countenance gives us pleasure, and of a melancholy one makes us 
sorrowful. Yawning, and sometimes vomiting, are thus propagated 
by sympathy; and some people of delicate fibres, at the presence of 
a spectacle of misery, have felt pain in the same parts of their 
bodies, that were diseased or mangled in the object they saw. 

The effect of this powerful agent in the moral M'orld, is the foun- 
dation of all our intellectual sympathies with the pains and pleasures 
of others, and is in consequence the source of all our virtues. For in 
what consists our sympathy with the miseries or with the joys of our 
fellow creatures, but in an involuntary excitation of ideas in some 
measure similar or imitative of those which we believe to exist in the 
minds of the persons whom we commiserate or congratulate ! 



J24 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto hi. 

" O'er the thrill'd frame his words assuasive steal, 
And teach the selfish heart what others feel; 480 

With sacred truth each erring thought control, 
Bind sex to sex, and mingle soul with soul; 
From heaven, He cried, descends the moral plan, 
And gives Society to savage man. 

" High on yon scroll, inscribed o'er Nature's shrine, 
Live in bright characters the words divine. 
" In Life's disastrous scenes to others do,, 
What you would wish by others done to you." 
■ — Winds! wide o'er earth the sacred law convey, 
Ye Nations, hear it! and ye Kings, obey! 490 



High on yon scroll, 1. 485. The famous sentence of Socrates " Know 
thyself," so celebrated by writers of antiquity, and said by them to 
have descended from Heaven, however wise it may be, seems to be 
rather of a selfish nature; and the author of it might have added 
" Know also other people." But the sacred maxims of the author of 
Christianity, "Do as you would be done by," and "Love your 
neighbour as yourself," include all our duties of benevolence and 
morality ; and, if sincerely obeyed by all nations, would a thousand- 
fold multiply the present happiness of mankind. 



canto in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 125 

" Unbreathing wonder hush'd the adoring throng, 
Froze the broad eye, and chain'd the silent tongue; 
Mute was the wail of Want, and Misery's cry, 
And grateful Pity wiped her lucid eye; 
Peace with sweet voice the Seraph-form address'd> 
And Virtue clasp'd him to her throbbing breast," 



END OF CANTO III, 



ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. 



CANTO IV. 



OF GOOD AND EVIL. 



CONTENTS. 



Few affected by Sympathy 1. Cruelty of War 11. Of brute ani- 
mals, Wolf, Eagle, Lamb, Dove, Owl, Nightingale 17. Of insects, 
Oestrus, Ichneumon, Libellula29. Wars of Vegetables 4 1. Of 
fish, the Shark, Crocodile, Whale 55. The World a Slaughter- 
house 66. Pains from Defect and from Excess of Stimulus 7L 
Ebriety and Superstition 77. Mania 89- Association 93. Avarice, 
Imposture, Ambition, Envy, Jealousy 97. Floods, Volcanoes, 
Earthquakes, Famine 1 09- Pestilence 1 17. Pains from Sympa- 
thy 123. II. Good outbalances Evil 135. Life combines inani- 
mate Matter, and produces happiness by Irritation 145. As in 
viewing a Landscape 159- In hearing Music 171. By Sensation 
or Fancy in Dreams 1 83. The Patriot and the Nun 197. Howard, 
Moira, Burdett 205. By Volition 223. Newton, Herschel 233. 
Archimedes, Savery 241. Isis, Arkwright 253. Letters and Print- 
ing 265. Freedom of the Press 273. By Association 291. Ideas 
of Contiguity, Resemblance, and of Cause and Effect 299- An- 
tinous319. Cecilia 329- III. Life soon ceases, Births and Deaths 
alternate 337- Acorns, Poppy-seeds, Aphises, Snails, Worms, Tad- 
poles, Herrings innumerable 347. So Mankind 369. All Nature 
teems with Life 375. Dead Organic Matter soon revives 383. 
Death is but a change of Form 393. Exclamation of St. Paul 403. 
Happiness of the World increases 405. The Phoenix 411. System 
of Pythagoras 4 17. Rocks and Mountains produced by Organic 
Life 429. Are Monuments of past Felicity 447. Munificence of 
the Deity 455. IV. Procession of Virgins 469. Hymn to Hea- 
ven 481. Of Chaos 489. Of Celestial Love 499- Offering of 
Urania 5 17— 524. 



CANTO IV. 

OF GOOD AND EVIL. 

I. " How few," the Muse in plaintive accents cries, 

And mingles with her words pathetic sighs. — 

" How few, alas! in Nature's wide domains 

The sacred charm of Sympathy restrains! 

Uncheck'd desires from appetite commence, 

And pure reflection yields to selfish sense! 

— Blest is the Sage, who learn'd in Nature's laws 

"With nice distinction marks effect and cause; 

Who views the insatiate Grave with eye sedate, 

Nor fears thy voice, inexorable FateL 10 

Blest is the Sage, 1. 7. 

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas; 
Quique metus omnes,. et inexorabile fatum, 
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari. 

Viug. Georg. II. 4-90. 
s 



130 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

" When War, the Demon, lifts his banner high, 
And loud artillery rends the affrighted sky; 
Swords clash with swords, on horses horses rush, 
Man tramples man, and nations nations crush; 
Death his vast sithe with sweep enormous wields, 
And shuddering Pity quits the sanguine fields. 

" The wolf, escorted by his milk-drawn dam, 
Unknown to mercy, tears the guiltless lamb; 
The towering eagle, darting from above, 
Unfeeling rends the inoffensive dove; 20 

The lamb and dove on living nature feed, 
Crop the young herb, or crush the embryon seed. 
Nor spares the loud owl in her dusky flight, 
Smit with sweet notes, the minstrel of the night; 
Nor spares, enamour'd of his radiant form, 
The hungry nightingale the glowing worm; 



The towering eagle, 1. 19. 

Torva leasna lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam, 
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella. Virg. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 131 

Who with bright lamp alarms the midnight hour, 
Climbs the green stem, and slays the sleeping flower. 

" Fell Oestrus buries in her rapid course 
Her countless brood in stag, or bull, or horse; 30 

Whose hungry larva eats its living way, 
Hatch'd by the warmth, and issues into day. 
The wing'd Ichneumon for her embryon young 
Gores with sharp horn the caterpillar throng. 



Fell Oestrus buries, 1. 29. The gadfly, bot-fly, or sheep-fly: the larva 
lives in the bodies of cattle throughout the whole winter; it is ex- 
tracted from their backs by an African bird called Buphaga. Adher- 
ing to the anus it artfully introduces itself into the intestines of 
horses, and becomes so numerous in their stomachs, as sometimes to 
destroy them; it climbs into the nostrils of sheep and calves, and pro- 
ducing a nest of young in a transparent hydatide in the frontal sinus, 
occasions the vertigo or turn of those animals. In Lapland it so 
attacks the rein deer that the natives annually travel with the herds 
from the woods to the mountains. Lin. Syst. Nat. 

The zving"d Ichneumon, 1. 33. Linneus describes seventy-seven species 
of the ichneumon fly, some of which have a sting as long and some 
twice as long as their bodies. Many of them insert their eggs into 
various caterpillars, which when they are hatched seem for a time to 
prey on the reservoir of silk in the backs of those animals designed 
for their own use to spin a cord to support them, or a bog to contain 
them, while they change from their larva form to a butterfly ; as I 
have seen in above fifty cabbage-caterpillars. The ichneumon larva 
then makes its way out of the caterpillar, and spins itself a small 



132 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

The cruel larva mines its silky course, 

And tears the vitals of its fostering nurse. 

While fierce Libellula with jaws of steel 

Ingulfs an insect -province at a meal; 

Contending bee-swarms rise on rustling wings, 

And slay their thousands with envenom'd stings. 40 

*' Yes! smiling Flora drives her armed car 
Through the thick ranks of vegetable war; 



cocoon like a silk worm ; these cocoons are about the size of a small 
pin's head, and I have seen about ten of them on each cabbage cater- 
pillar, which soon dies after their exclusion. 

Other species of ichneumon insert their eggs into the aphis, and 
into the larva of the aphidivorous fly : others into the bedeguar of 
rose trees, and the gall-nuts of oaks; whence those excrescences seem 
to be produced^ as well as the hydatides in the frontal sinus of sheep 
and calves by the stimulus of the larvae deposited in them. 

While fierce Libellula, 1. 37. The Libellula or Dragon-fly is said to 
be a most voracious animal; Linneus says in their perfect state they 
are the hawks to naked winged flies; in their larva state they run 
beneath the water, and are the cruel crocodiles of aquatic insects. 
Syst. Nat. 

Contending bee-swarms, 1. 39. Stronger bee-swarms frequently at- 
tack weak hives, and in two or three days destroy them and carry- 
away their honey ; this I once prevented by removing the attacked 
hive after the first day's battle to a distinct part of the garden. See 
Phytologia, Sect. XIV. 3. 7. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 133 

Herb, shrub, and tree, with strong emotions rise 
For light and air, and battle in the skies; 
Whose roots diverging with opposing toil 
Contend below for moisture and for soil; 
Round the tall Elm the nattering Ivies bend, 
■And strangle, as they clasp, their struggling friend; 
Envenom'd dews from Mancinella flow, 
And scald with caustic touch the tribes below; 50 

Dense shadowy leaves on stems aspiring borne 
With blight and mildew thin the realms of corn ; 
And insect hordes with restless tooth devour 
The unfolded bud, and pierce the ravell'd flower. 

" In ocean's pearly haunts, the waves beneath 
Sits the grim monarch of insatiate Death; 
The shark rapacious with descending blow 
Darts on the scaly brood, that swims below; 



The shark rapacious, 1. 51. The shark has three rows of sharp tectli 
within each other, which he can bend downwards internally to 
admit larger prey, and raise to prevent its return; his snout hangs 



134 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

The crawling crocodiles, beneath that move, 
Arrest with rising jaw the tribes above; 60 

With monstrous gape sepulchral whales devour 
Shoals at a gulp, a million in an hour. 
—Air, earth, and ocean, to astonish' d day 
One scene of blood, one mighty tomb display j 
From Hunger's arm the shafts of Death are hurl'd, 
And one great Slaughter-house the warring world! 



.so far over his mouth, that he is necessitated to turn upon his back, 
when he takes fish that swim over him, and hence seems peculiarly 
formed to catch those that swim under him. 

The crawling crocodiles, 1, 59. As this animal lives chiefly at the 
bottom of the rivers, which he frequents, he has the power of open- 
ing the upper jaw as well as the under one, and thus with greater 
facility catches the fish or water-fowl which swim over him. 

One great slaughter-house, 1. 66. As vegetables are an inferior order 
of animals fixed to the soil; and as the locomotive animals prey upon 
them, or upon each other; the world may indeed be said to be one 
great slaughter-house. As the digested food of vegetables consists 
principally of sugar, and from this is produced again their mucilage, 
starch, and oil, and since animals are sustained by these vegetable 
productions, it would seem that the sugar-making process carried on 
in vegetable vessels was the great source of life to all organized beings. 
And that if our improved chemistry should ever discover the art of 
making sugar from fossile or aerial matter without the assistance of 
vegetation, food for animals would then become as plentiful as water, 
and they might live upon the earth without preying on each other, as 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 135 

" The brow of Man erect, with thought elate, 
Ducks to the mandate of resistless fate; 
Nor Love retains him, nor can Virtue save 
Hei; sages, saints, or heroes from the grave. 70 

While cold and hunger by defect oppress, 
Repletion, heat, and labour by excess, 



thick as blades of grass, with no restraint to their numbers but the 
want of local room. 

It would seem that roots fixed in the earth and leaves innumerable 
waving in the air were necessary for the decomposition of water and air, 
and the conversion of them into saccharine matter, which would have 
been not only cumberous but totally incompatible with the loco- 
motion of animal bodies. For how could a man or quadruped have 
carried on his head or back a forest of leaves, or have had long branch- 
ing lacteal or absorbent vessels terminating in the earth? Animals 
therefore subsist on vegetables; that is they take the matter so pre- 
pared, and have organs to prepare it further for the purposes of 
higher animation and greater sensibility. 

While cold and hunger, 1. 71. Those parts of our system, which arc 
in health excited into perpetual action, give us pain, when they are 
not excited into action : thus when the hands are for a time immersed 
in snow, an inaction of the cutaneous capillaries is induced, as is seen 
from the paleness of the skin, which is attended with the pain of 
coldness. So the pain of hunger is probably produced by the inaction 
of the muscular fibres of the stomach from the want of the stimulus 
of food. 

Thus those, who have used much voluntary exertion in their early 
years, and have continued to do so, till the decline of life commences, 
if they then lay aside their employment, whether that of a minister 
of state, a general of an army, or a merchant, or manufacturer; 



136 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. ganto iv. 

The whip, the sting, the spur, the fiery brand,. 
And, cursed Slavery 1 thy iron hand; 
And led by Luxury Disease's trains* 
Load human life with unextinguish'd pains, 

" Here laughs Ebriety more fell than arms v 
And thins the nations with her fatal charms, 
With Gout, and Hydrops groaning in her train, 
And cold Debility, and grinning Pain, 80 

With harlot's smiles deluded man salutes, 
Revenging all his cruelties to brutes I 
There the curst spells of Superstition blind,. 
And fix her fetters on the tortured mind; 
She bids in dreams tormenting shapes appear, 
With shrieks that shock Imagination's ear,. 



they cease to have their faculties excited into their usual activity, and 
become unhappy, I suppose from the too great accumulation of the 
sensorial power of volition; which wants the accustomed stimulus or 
motive to cause its expenditure. 

Here laughs Ebriety. 1. 77. 

Saevior armis 
Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem. Horac. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 137 

E'en o'er the grave a deeper shadow flings, 

And maddening Conscience darts a thousand stings. 

" There writhing Mania sits on Reason's throne, 
Or Melancholy marks it for her own, 90 

Sheds o'er the scene a voluntary gloom, 
Requests oblivion, and demands the tomb. 
And last Association's trains suggest 
Ideal ills, that harrow up the breast, 



E'en over the grave, 1. 87- Many theatric preachers among the 
Methodists successfully inculcate the fear of death and of Hell, and 
live luxuriously on the folly of their hearers: those who suffer under 
this insanity, are generally most innocent and harmless people, who 
are then liahleto accuse themselves of the greatest imaginary crimes; 
and have so much intellectual cowardice, that they dare not reason 
about those things, which they are directed by their priests to believe. 
Where this intellectual cowardice is great, the voice of reason is in- 
effectual; but that of ridicule may save many from these mad-mak- 
ing doctors, as the farces of Mr. Foot; though it is too weak to cure 
those who are already hallucinated. 

And last association, 1. 93. The miseries and the felicities of life may 
be divided into those which arise in consequence of irritation, sen- 
sation, volition, and association; and consist in the actions of the 
extremities of the nerves of sense, which constitute our ideas; if 
they are much more exerted than usual, or much less exerted than 
usual, they occasion pain; as when the finger is burnt in a candle; or 
when we go into a cold bath: while their natural degree of exertion 

T 



138 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

Call for the dead from Time's o'erwhelming main, 
And bid departed Sorrow live again. 

" Here ragged Avarice guards with bolted door 
His useless treasures from the starving poor; 
Loads the lorn hours with misery and care, 
And lives a beggar to enrich his heir. 100 

Unthinking crowds thy forms, Imposture, gull, 
A Saint in sackcloth, or a Wolf in wool. 



produces the pleasure of life or existence. This pleasure is nevertheless 
increased, when the system is stimulated into rather stronger action 
than usual, as after a copious dinner, and at the beginning of intoxi- 
cation ; and diminished, when it is only excited into somewhat less 
activity than usual, which is termed ennui, or irksomeness of life. 

Ideal ills, 1. 94. The tooth-edge is an instance of bodily pain occa- 
sioned by association of ideas. Every one in his childhood has re- 
peatedly bit a part of the glass or earthen vessel, in which his food 
has been given him, and has thence had a disagreeable sensation in 
his teeth, attended at the same time with a jarring sound ; and ever 
after, when such a sound is accidentally produced, the disagreeable 
sensation of the teeth follows by association of ideas ; this is further 
elucidated in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XVI. 10. 

Enrich his heir, 1. 100. 

Cum furor haud dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenitis, 
Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato. Juvenal. 

A Wolf in wool, 1. 102. A wolf in sheep's clothing- 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 159 

While mad with foolish fame, or drunk with power, 
Ambition slays his thousands in an hour; 
Demoniac Envy scowls with haggard mien, 
And blights the bloom of other's joys, unseen; 
Or wrathful Jealousy invades the grove, 
And turns to night meridian beams of Love ! 

" Here wide o'er earth impetuous waters sweep, 
And fields and forests rush into the deep; 110 

Or dread Volcano with explosion dire 
Involves the mountains in a flood of fire ; 
Or yawning Earth with closing jaws inhumes 
Unwarned nations, living in their tombs; 
Or Famine seizes with her tiger-paw, 
And swallows millions with unsated maw. 

" There livid Pestilence in league with Dearth 
Walks forth malignant o'er the shuddering earth, 



140 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

Her rapid shafts with airs volcanic wings, 

Or steeps in putrid vaults her venom'd stings. 120 

Arrests the young in Beauty's vernal bloom, 

And bears the innocuous strangers to the tomb! — 

" And now, e'en I, whose verse reluctant sings 
The changeful state of sublunary things, 
Bend o'er Mortality with silent sighs, 
And wipe the secret tear-drops from my eyes, 
Hear through the night one universal groan, 
And mourn unseen for evils not my own, 
With restless limbs and throbbing heart complain, 
Stretch'd on the rack of sentimental pain! 130 



With airs volcanic, \. \]Q. Those epidemic complaints, which are 
generally termed influenza, are believed to arise from vapours thrown 
out from earthquakes in such abundance as to affect large regions of 
the atmosphere, see Botanic Garden, V. I. Canto IV. 1. 65. while 
the diseases properly termed contagious originate from the putrid 
effluvia of decomposing animal or vegetable matter. 

Sentimental pain, 1. 130. Children should be taught in their early 
education to feel for all the remediable evils, which they observe in 
others ; but they should at the same time be taught sufficient firmness 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 141 

— Ah where can Sympathy reflecting find 
One bright idea to console the mind? 
One ray of light in this terrene abode 
To prove to Man the Goodness of his God?" 

II. " Hear, O ye Sons of Time I" the Nymph replies, 
Quick indignation darting from her eyes ; 
" When in soft tones the Muse lamenting sings, 
And weighs with tremulous hand the sum of things; 
She loads the scale in melancholy mood, 
Presents the evil, but forgets the good. 140 



of mind not intirely to destroy their own happiness by their sympa- 
thizing with too great sensibility with the numerous irremediable 
evils, which exist in the present system of the world: as by indulging 
that kind of melancholy they decrease the sum total of public hap- 
piness; which is so far rather reprehensible than commendable. See 
Plan for Female Education by Dr. Darwin, Johnson, London, 
Sect. XVII. 

This has been carried to great excess in the East by the disciples 
of Confucius; the Gentoos during a famine in India refused to eat the 
flesh of cows and of other animals to satisfy their hunger, and save 
themselves from death. And at other times they have been said to 
permit fleas and musquitoes to feed upon them from this erroneous 
sympathy. 



142 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

But if the beam some firmer hand suspends, 
And good and evil load the adverse ends; 
With strong libration, where the Good abides, 
Quick nods the beam, the ponderous gold subsides. 

;c Hear, O ye Sons of Time! the powers of Life 
Arrest the elements, and stay their strife; 
From wandering atoms, ethers, airs, and gas, 
By combination form the organic mass; 
And, — as they seize, digest, secrete, — dispense 
The bliss of Being to the vital Ens. 150 

Hence in bright groups from Irritation rise 
Young Pleasure's trains, and roll their azure eyes. 



From wandering atoms, 1. 147. Had those ancient philosophers, who 
contended that the world was formed from atoms, ascribed their com- 
binations to certain immutable properties received from the hand of 
the Creator, such as general gravitation, chemical affinity, or ani- 
mal appetency, instead of ascribing them to a blind chance; the doc- 
trine of atoms, as constituting or composing the material world by 
the variety of their combinations, so far from leading the mind to 
atheism, would strengthen the demonstration of the existence of a 
Deity, as the first cause of all things; because the analogy resulting 
from our perpetual experience of cause and effect would have thus 
been exemplified through universal nature. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. U3 

" With fond delight we feel the potent charm, 
When Zephyrs cool us, or when sun-beams warm; 
With fond delight inhale the fragrant flowers, 
Taste the sweet fruits, which bend the blushing bowers, 
Admire the music of the vernal grove, 
Or drink the raptures of delirious love. 

" So with long gaze admiring eyes behold 
The varied landscape all its lights unfold; 160 

Huge rocks opposing o'er the stream project 
Their naked bosoms, and the beams reflect; 



The varied landscape, 1. 160. The pleasure, we feel on examining 
a fine landscape, is derived from various sources; as first the excite- 
ment of the retina of the eye into certain quantities of action ; which 
when there is in the optic nerve any accumulation of sensorial power, 
is always agreeahle. 2. When it is excited into such successive ac- 
tions, as relieve each other; as when a limb has been long exerted in 
one direction, by stretching it in another; as described in Zoonomia, 
Sect. XL. 6. on ocular spectra. 3. And lastly by the associations of 
its parts with some agreeable sentiments or tastes, as of sublimity, 
beauty, utility, novelty; and the objects suggesting other senti- 
ments, which have lately been termed picturesque as mentioned in 
the note to Canto III, 1. 230 of this work. The two former of these 
sources of pleasure arise from irritation, the last from association. 



344 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

Wave high in air their fringed crests of wood, 
And checker'd shadows dance upon the flood; 
Green sloping lawns construct the sidelong scene, 
And guide the sparkling rill that winds between; 
Conduct on murmuring wings the pausing gale, 
And rural echoes talk along the vale; 
Dim hills behind in pomp aerial rise, 
Lift their blue tops, and melt into the skies. 1 70 

" So when by Handel tuned to measured sounds 
The trumpet vibrates, or the drum rebounds; 
Alarm'd we listen with ecstatic wonder 
To mimic battles, or imagined thunder. 
When the soft lute in sweet impassion'd strains 
Of cruel nymphs or broken vows complains; 
As on the breeze the fine vibration floats, 
We drink delighted the melodious notes. 



We drink delighted, 1. 178. The pleasure we experience from music, 
is, like that from viewing a landscape, derived from various sources; 
as first from the excitement of the auditory nerve into certain quan- 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 145 

But when young Beauty on the realms above 
Bends her bright eye, and trills the tones of love; 180 
Seraphic sounds enchant this nether sphere; 
And listening angels lean from Heaven to hear. 

" Next by Sensation led, new joys commence 
From the fine movements of the excited sense; 
In swarms ideal urge their airy flight, 
Adorn the day-scenes, and illume the night. 
Her spells o'er all the hand of Fancy flings, 
Gives form and substance to unreal things; 



tities of action, when there exists any accumulation of sensorial 
power. 2. When the auditory nerve is exerted in such successive 
actions as relieve each other, like stretching or yawning, as described 
in Botanic Garden, Vol. II, Interlude the third, these successions of 
sound are termed melody, and their combinations harmony. 3. From 
the repetition of sounds at certain intervals of time ; as we hear them 
with greater facility and accuracy, when we expect them ; because 
they are then excited by volition, as well as by irritation, or at least 
the tympanum is then better adapted to assist their production ; hence 
the two musical times or bars; and hence the rhimes in poetry give 
pleasure, as well as the measure of the verse : and lastly the pleasure 
Ave receive from music, arises from the associations of agreeable sen- 
timents with certain proportions, or repetitions, or quantities, or 
times of sounds which have been previously acquired; as explained 
in Zoonomia Vol. I. Sect. XVI. 10. and Sect. XXII. 2. 

U 



146 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

With fruits and foliage decks the barren waste, 

And brightens Life with sentiment and taste; 1QO 

Pleased o'er the level and the rule presides, 

The painter's brush, the sculptor's chissel guides, 

With ray ethereal lights the poet's fire, 

Tunes the rude pipe, or strings the heroic lyre : 

Charm'd round the nymph on frolic footsteps move 

The angelic forms of Beauty, Grace, and Love. 

" So dreams the Patriot, who indignant draws 
The sword of vengeance in his Country's cause; 
Bright for his brows unfading honours bloom, 
Or kneeling Virgins weep around his tomb. 200 

So holy transports in the cloister's shade 
Play round thy toilet, visionary maid! 
Charm'd o'er thy bed celestial voices sing, 
And Seraphs hover on enamour'd wing. 

" So Howard, Moira,Burdett, sought the cells, 
Where want, or woe, or guilt in darkness dwells; 



/,' 




T III 1 ', P0W E K OF FANCY \N I >K K A MS 






canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 147 

With Pity's torch illumed the dread domains, 
Wiped the wet eye, and eased the galling chains; 
With Hope's bright blushes warm'd the midnight air, 
And drove from earth the Demon of Despair. 210 

Erewhile emerging from the caves of night 
The Friends of Man ascended into light ; 
With soft assuasive eloquence address' d 
The ear of Power to stay his stern behest; 
At Mercy's call to stretch his arm and save 
His tottering victims from the gaping grave. 
These with sweet smiles Imagination greets, 
For these she opens all her treasured sweets, 
Strews round their couch, by Pity's hand combined, 
Bright flowers of joy, the sunshine of the mind; 220 
While Fame's loud trump with sounds applausive breathes 
And Virtue crowns them with immortal wreathes. 

" Thy acts, Volition, to the world impart 
The plans of Science with the works of art; 



148 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

i 
Give to proud Reason her comparing power, 

Warm every clime, and brighten every hour. 

In Life's first cradle, ere the dawn began 

Of young Society to polish man; 

The staff that propp'd him, and the bow that arm'd, 

The boat that bore him, and the shed that warm'd, 230 

Fire, raiment, food, the ploughshare, and the sword, 

Arose, Volition, at thy plastic word* 

" By thee instructed, Newton's eye sublime 
Mark'd the bright periods of revolving time; 
Explored, in Nature's scenes the effect and cause, 
And, charm'd, unravell'd all her latent laws. 
Delighted Herschel with reflected light 
Pursues his radiant journey through the night; 
Detects new guards, that roll their orbs afar 
In lucid ringlets round the Georgian star. 240 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 149 

" Inspired by thee, with scientific wand 
PJ eased Archimedes mark'd the figured sand; 
Siezed with mechanic grasp the approaching decks, 
And shook the assailants from the inverted wrecks. 
— Then cried the Sage, with grand effects elate, 
And proud to save the Syracusian state; 
While crowds exulting shout their noisy mirth, 
' Give where to stand, and I will move the earth.' 
So Savery guided his explosive steam 
In iron cells to raise the balanced beam; 250 

The Giant-form its ponderous mass uprears, 
Descending nods and seems to shake the spheres. 



Marked the Jigur d sand, I. 242. The ancient orators seem to have 
spoken disrespectfully of the mechanic philosophers. Cicero men- 
tioning Archimedes, calls him Homunculus e pulvere et radio, allud- 
ing to the custom of drawing problems on the sand with a staff. 

So Savery guided, 1. 249- Captain Savery first applied the pressure 
of the atmosphere to raise water in consequence of a vacuum pre- 
viously produced by the condensation of steam, though the Marquis 
of Worceser had before proposed to use for this purpose the expan- 
sive power of steam; see Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Canto I. 1. '253. 
Note. 



150 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

" Led by Volition on the banks of Nile 
Where bloom'd the waving flax on Delta's isle, 
Pleased Is is taught the fibrous stems to bind, 
And part with hammers from the adhesive rind; 
With locks of flax to deck the distafFpole, 
And whirl with graceful bend the dancing spole. 
In level lines the length of woof to spread, 
And dart the shuttle through the parting thread. 260 
So Ark wright taught from Cotton-pods to cull, 
And stretch in lines the vegetable wool; 
With teeth of steel its fibre-knots unfurl' d, 
And with the silver tissue clothed the world. 

" Ages remote by thee, Volition, taught 
Chain'd down in characters the winged thought; 
With silent language mark'd the letter' d ground, 
And gave to sight the evanescent sound. 

The waving flax, 1. 254. Flax is said to have been first discovered 
on the banks of the Nile, and Isis to have been the inventress of 
spinning and weaving. 

*Sb Arkwright taught, 1. 261. See Botanic Garden, Vol. II. 
Canto II. 1. 87, Note. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 151 

Now, happier lot! enlighten'd realms possess 
The learned labours of the immortal Press; 270 

Nursed on whose lap the births of science thrive, 
And rising Arts the wrecks of Time survive. 

" Ye patriot heroes! in the glorious cause 
Of Justice, Mercy, Liberty, and Laws, 
Who call to Virtue's shrine the British youth, 
And shake the senate with the voice of Truth; 
Rouse the dull ear, the hoodwink'd eye unbind, 
And give to energy the public mind; 



The immortal Press, 1. 270. The discovery of the art of printing has 
had so great influence on human affairs, that from thence may be dated 
a new aera in the history of mankind. As by the diffusion of general 
knowledge, both of the arts of taste and of useful sciences, the 
public mind has become improved to so great a degree, that though 
new impositions have been perpetually produced, the arts of detect- 
ing them have improved with greater rapidity. Hence since the 
introduction of printing, superstition has been much lessened by the 
reformation of religion ; and necromancy, astrology, chiromancy, 
witchcraft, and vampyrism, have vanished from all classes of society; 
though some are still so weak in the present enlightened times as to 
believe in the prodigies of animal magnetism, and of metallic trac- 
tors; by this general diffusion of knowledge, if the liberty of the 
press be preserved, mankind will not be liable in this part 6f the 
world to sink into such abject slavery as exists at this day in China. 



152 ORrGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

While rival realms with blood unsated wage 

Wide-wasting war with fell demoniac rage; 280 

In every clime while army army meets, 

And oceans groan beneath contending fleets; 

Oh save, oh save, in this eventful hour 

The tree of knowledge from the axe of power ; 

With fostering peace the suffering nations bless, 

And guard the freedom of the immortal Press ! 

So shall your deathless fame from age to age 

Survive recorded in the historic page; 

And future bards with voice inspired prolong 

Your sacred names immortalized in song. 2Q0 

" Thy power Association next affords 
Ideal trains annex'd to volant words, 
Conveys to listening ears the thought superb, 
And gives to Language her expressive verb ; 

Her expressive verb, 1. 294. The verb, or the word, has been so 
called from its being trie most expressive term in all languages; as it 
suggests the ideas of existence, action or suffering, and of time; see 
the Note on Canto III. 1. 371, of this work. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 153 

Which in one changeful sound suggests the fact 
At once to be, to suffer, or to act; 
And marks on rapid wing o'er every clime 
The viewless Right of evanescent Time. 

" Call'd by thy voice contiguous thoughts embrace 
In endless streams arranged by Time or Place; 300 
The Muse historic hence in every age 
Gives to the world her inter esti?ig page; 
While in bright landscape from her moving pen 
Rise the fine tints of manners and of men. 

CaWd by thy voice, 1. 299- The numerous trains of associated ideas 
are divided by Mr. Hume into three classes, which he has termed 
contiguity, causation, and resemblance. Nor should we wonder to 
find them thus connected together, since it is the business of our 
lives to dispose them into these three classes; and Ave become valu- 
able to ourselves and our friends as we succeed in it. Those who 
have combined an extensive class of ideas by the contiguity of time 
or place, are men learned in the history of mankind, and of the 
sciences they have cultivated. Those who have connected a great 
class of ideas of resemblances, possess the source of the ornaments of 
poetry and oratory, and of all rational analogy. While those who 
have connected great classes of ideas of causation, are furnished with 
the powers of producing effects. These are the men of active wisdom 
who lead armies to victory, and kingdoms to prosperity; or discover 
and improve the sciences which meliorate and adorn the condition 
of humanity. 

X 



154 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

" Call'd by thy voice Resemblance next describes 
Her sister- thoughts in lucid trains or tribes; 
Whence pleased Imagination oft combines 
By loose analogies her fair designs; 
Each winning grace of polish'd wit bestows 
To deck the Nymphs of Poetry and Prose. 310 

" Last, at thy potent nod, Effect and Cause 
Walk hand in hand accordant to thy laws; 
Rise at Volition's call, in groups combined, 
Amuse, delight, instruct, and serve Mankind; 



Polish'd wit bestows, 1. 309. Mr. Locke defines wit to consist of 
an assemblage of ideas, brought together with quickness and variety, 
wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to 
make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy. To 
which Mr. Addison adds, that these must occasion surprise as well as 
delight; Spectator, Vol. I. No. LXII. See Note on Canto III. 1. 145. 
and Additional Note, VII. 3. Perhaps wit in the extended use of 
the word may mean to express all kinds of fine writing, as the word 
Taste is applied to all agreeable visible objects, and thus wit may 
mean descriptive sublimity, beauty, the pathetic, or ridiculous, but 
when used in the confined sense, as by Mr. Locke and Mr. Addison as 
above, it may probably be better defined a combination of ideas with 
agreeable novelty, as this may be effected by opposition as well as by 
resemblance. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 155 

Bid raised in air the ponderous structure stand, 
Or pour obedient rivers through the land; 
With cars unnumber'd crowd the living streets, 
Or people oceans with triumphant fleets. 

" Thy magic touch imagined forms supplies 
From colour'd light, the language of the eyes; 320 
On Memory's page departed hours inscribes, 
Sweet scenes of youth, and Pleasure's vanish'd tribes. 
By thee Antinous leads the dance sublime 
On wavy step, and moves in measured time; 
Charm'd round the Youth successive Graces throng, 
And Ease conducts him, as he moves along; 
Unbreathing crowds the floating form admire, 
And Vestal bosoms feel forbidden fire. 

" When rapp'd Cecilia breathes her matin vow, 
And lifts to Heaven her fair adoring brow; 330 

From her sweet lips, and rising bosom part 
Impassion'd notes, that thrill the melting heart; 



156 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto i v. 

Tuned by thy hand the dulcet harp she rings, 
And sounds responsive echo from the strings; 
Bright scenes of bliss in trains suggested move, 
And charm the world with melody and love. 

III. " Soon the fair forms with vital being bless'd, 
Time's feeble children, lose the boon possess'd; 
The goaded fibre ceases to obey, 

And sense deserts the uncontractile clay; 340 

While births unnumber'd, ere the parents die, 
The hourly waste of lovely life supply; 
And thus, alternating with death, fulfil 
The silent mandates of the Almighty Will ; 
Whose hand unseen the works of nature dooms 
By laws unknown — who gives, and who resumes. 

64 Each pregnant Oak ten thousand acorns forms 
Profusely scatter'd by autumnal storms; 

The goaded fibre, 1. 339- Old age consists in the inaptitude to 
motion from the inirritability of the system, and the consequent 
want of fibrous contraction; see Additional Note VII. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 157 

Ten thousand seeds each pregnant poppy sheds 
Profusely scattered from its waving heads; 350 

The countless Aphides, prolific tribe, 
With greedy trunks the honey'd sap imbibe; 



Ten thousand seeds, 1. 349. The fertility of plants in respect to 
seeds is often remarkable; from one root in one summer the seeds 
of zea, maize, amount to 2000; of inula, elecampane, to 3000; of 
helianthus, sunflower, to 4000; of papaver, poppy, 32C00; of 
micotiana, tobacco, to 403£0; to this must be added the perennial 
roots, and the buds. Buds, which are so many herbs, in one tree, 
the trunk of which does not exceed a span in thickness, frequently 
amount to lOOOu; Lin. Phil. Bot. p. 86. 

The countless Aphides, 1. 351. The aphises, pucerons, or vine- 
fretters, are hatched from an egg in the early spring, and are all 
called females, as they produce a living offspring about once in a 
fortnight to the ninth generation, which arc also all of them females; 
then males are also produced, and by their intercourse the females 
become oviparous, and deposite their eggs on the branches, or in the 
bark to be hatched in the ensuing spring. 

This double mode of reproduction, so exactly resembling the buds 
and seeds of trees, accounts for the wonderful increase of this insect, 
which, according to Dr. Richardson, consists often generations, and 
of fifty at an average in each generation; so that the sum of fifty 
multiplied by fifty, and that product again multiplied by fifty nine 
times, would give the product of one egg only in countless millions; 
to which must be added the innumerable eggs laid by the tenth 
generation for the renovation of their progeny in the ensuing spring. 

The honey'd sap, 1. 35 c 2. The aphis punctures with its fine proboscis 
the sap-vessels of vegetables without any visible wound, and thus 
drinks the sap-juice, or vegetable chyle, as it ascends. Hence on 
the twigs of trees they stand with their heads downwards, as I have 
observed, to acquire this ascending sap-juice with greater facility. 



158 ORIGIN" OF SOCIETY. can* iv. 

Swarm on each leaf with eggs or embryons big, 
And pendent nations tenant every twig. 
Amorous with double sex, the snail and worm, 
Scoop'd in the soil, their cradling caverns form; 
Heap their white eggs, secure from frost and floods, 
And crowd their nurseries with uncounted broods. 
Ere yet with wavy tail the tadpole swims, 
Breathes with new lungs, or tries his nascent limbs; 360 
Her countless shoals the amphibious frog forsakes, 
And living islands float upon the lakes. 



The honey-dew on the upper surface of leaves is evacuated by these 
insects, as they hang on the underside of the leaves above ; when 
they take too much of this saccharine juice during the vernal or 
midsummer sap-flow of most vegetables; the black powder on leaves 
is also their excrement at other times. The vegetable world seems 
to have escaped total destruction from this insect by the number of 
flies, which in their larva state prey upon them; and by the ichneu- 
mon fly, which deposits its eggs in them. Some vegetables put forth 
stiff bristles with points round their young shoots, as the moss-rose, 
apparently to prevent the depredation of these insects, so injurious 
to them by robbing them of their chyle or nourishment. 

The tadpole swims, 1. 359- The progress of a tadpole from a fish 
to a quadruped by his gradually putting forth his limbs, and at length 
leaving the water, and breathing the dry air, is a subject of great 
curiosity, as it resembles so much the incipient state of all other 
quadrupeds, and men, who are aquatic animals in the uterus, and 
become aerial ones at their birth. 



canto iv. bF GOOD AND EVIL. 159 

The migrant herring steers her myriad bands 
From seas of ice to visit warmer strands ; 
Unfathom'd depths and climes unknown explores, 
And covers with her spawn unmeasured shores. 
—All these, increasing by successive birth, 
Would each o'erpeople ocean, air, and earth. 

" So human progenies, if unrestrain'd, 
By climate friended, and by food sustain'd, 370 

O'er seas and soils, prolific hordes! would spread 
Erelong, and deluge their terraqueous bed; 
But war, and pestilence, disease, and dearth, 
Sweep the superfluous myriads from the earth. 
Thus while new forms reviving tribes acquire 
Each passing moment, as the old expire; 
Like insects swarming in the noontide bower, 
Rise into being, and exist an hour; 
The births and deaths contend with equal strife, 
And every pore of Nature teems with Life; 380 



160 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

Which buds or breathes from Indus to the Poles, 
And Earth's vast surface kindles, as it rolls ! 

" Hence when a Monarch or a mushroom dies, 
Awhile extinct the organic matter lies; 
But, as a few short hours or years revolve, 
Alchemic powers the changing mass dissolve; 
Born to new life unnumber'd insects pant, 
New buds surround the microscopic plant; 
Whose embryon senses, and unwearied frames, 
Feel finer goads, and blush with purer flames; 3Q0 



Which buds or breathes, 1. 381. Organic bodies, besides the carbon, 
hydrogen, azote, and the oxygen and heat, which are combined with 
them, require to be also immersed in loose heat and loose oxygen 
to preserve their mutable existence; and hence life only exists on or 
near the surface of the earth; see Botan. Garden, Vol. I. Canto IV. 
1. 419. L'organization, le sentiment, le movement spontan6, la vie, 
n'existent qu'a la surface de la terre, et dans les lieux exposes a la 
lumiere. Trait6 de Chimie par M. Lavoisier, Tom. I. p. 202. 

Born to new life, 1. 387. From the innumerable births of the 
larger insects, and the spontaneous productions of the microscopic 
ones, every part-of organic matter from the recrements of dead vege- 
table or animal bodies, on or near the surface of the earth, becomes 
.again presently reanimated ; which by increasing the number and 
quantity of living organizations, though many of them exist but for 
a short time, adds to the sum total of terrestrial happiness. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 361 

Renascent joys from irritation spring, 

Stretch the long root, or wave the aurelian wing. 

" When thus a squadron or an army yields, 
And festering carnage loads the waves or fields; 
When few from famines or from plagues survive, 
Or earthquakes swallow half a realm alive; — 
While Nature sinks in Time's destructive storms, 
The wrecks of Death are but a change of forms; 
Emerging matter from the grave returns, 
Feels new desires, with new sensations burns; 400 
With youth's first bloom a finer sense acquires, 
And Loves and Pleasures fan the rising fires. — 
Thus sainted Paul, * O Death!' exulting cries, 
* Where is thy sting? O Grave! thy victories?' 



Thus sainted Paul, 1. 403. The doctrine of St. Paul teaches the 
resurrection of the body in an incorruptible and glorified state, with 
consciousness of its previous existence; he therefore justly exults 
over the sting of death, and the victory of the grave. 



1$2 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY, canto iv. 

" Immortal Happiness from realms deceased 
Wakes, as from sleep, unlessen'd or increased; 
Calls to the wise in accents loud and clear, 
Sooths with sweet tones the sympathetic ear; 
Informs and fires the revivescent clay, 
And lights the dawn of Life's returning day. 410 

" So when Arabia's Bird, by age oppress'd, 
Consumes delighted on his spicy nest; 
A filial Phoenix from his ashes springs, 
Crown'd with a star, on renovated wings; 
Ascends exulting from his funeral flame, 
And soars and shines, another and the same. 



And lights the dawn, L 410. The sum total of the happiness of 
organized nature is probably increased rather than diminished, when 
one large old animal dies, and is converted into many thousand 
young ones; which are produced or supported with their numerous 
progeny by the same organic matter. Linneus asserts, that three of 
the flies, called musca vomitoria, will consume the body of a dead 
horse, as soon as a lion can ; Syst. Nat. 

So when Arabia's bird, 1. 411. The story of the Phoenix rising from 
its own ashes with a star upon its head seems to have been an hiero- 
glyphic emblem of the destruction and resuscitation of all things; 
see Botan. Garden, Vol. I. Canto IV. 1. 389. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 163 

" So erst the Sage with scientific truth 
In Grecian temples taught the attentive youth; 
With ceaseless change how restless atoms pass 
From life to life, a transmigrating mass; 420 

How the same organs, which to day compose 
The poisonous henbane, or the fragrant rose, 
May with to morrow's sun new forms compile, 
Frown in the Hero, in the Beauty smile. 
Whence drew the enlighten'd Sage the moral plan, 
That man should ever be the friend of man ; 
Should eye with tenderness all living forms, 
His brother-emmets, and his sister-worms. 

*" Hear, O ye Sons of Time! your final doom, 
And read the characters, that mark your tomb: 430 



So erst the Sage. 1. 417. It is probable, that the perpetual transmi- 
gration of matter from one body to another, of all vegetables and 
animals, during their lives, as well as after their deaths, was observed 
by Pythagoras; which he afterwards applied to the soul, or spirit of 
animation, and taught, that it passed from one animal to another as 



164 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

The marble mountain, and the sparry steep, 
Were built by myriad nations of the deep, — 
Age after age, who form'd their spiral shells, 
Their sea-fan gardens and their coral cells; 
Till central fires with unextinguished sway 
Raised the primeval islands into day ; — 
The sand-fhTd strata stretch'd from pole to pole; 
Unmeasured beds of clay, and marl, and coal, 



a punishment for evil deeds, though without consciousness of its pre- 
vious existence ; and from this doctrine he inculcated a system of 
morality and benevolence, as all creatures thus became related to each 
other. 

The marble mountain, 1.431. From the increased knowledge in 
Geology during the present century, owing to the greater attention 
of philosophers to the situations of the different materials, which 
compose the strata of the earth, as well as to their chemical proper- 
ties, it seems clearly to appear, that the nucleus of the globe be- 
neath the ocean consisted of granite; and that on this the great beds 
of limestone were formed from the shells of marine animals during 
the innumerable primeval ages of the world; and that whatever strata 
lie on these beds of limestone, or on the granite, where the limestone 
does not cover it, were formed after the elevation of islands and con- 
tinents above the surface of the sea by the recrements of vegetables 
and of terrestrial animals; see on this subject Botanic Garden, Vol. I. 
Additional Note XXIV. 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL, 165 

Black ore of manganese, the zinky stone, 

And dusky steel on his magnetic throne, 440 

In deep morass, or eminence superb, 

Rose from the wrecks of animal or herb; 

These from their elements by Life combined, 

Form'd by digestion, and in glands refined, 

Gave by their just excitement of the sense 

The Bliss of Being to the vital Ens. 

44 Thus the tall mountains, that emboss the lands, 
Huge isles of rock, and continents of sands, 
Whose dim extent eludes the inquiring sight, 
Are mighty Monuments of past Delight; 450 



Are mighty monuments. 1. 450. The reader is referred to a few pages 
on this subject in Phytologia, Sect. XIX. 7. I, where the felicity of 
organic life is considered more at large; but it is probable that the 
most certain way to estimate the happiness and misery of organic 
beings; as it depends on the actions of the organs of sense, which 
constitute ideas; or of the muscular fibres which perform locomotion ; 
would be to consider those actions, as they are produced or excited 
by the four sensorial powers of irritation, sensation, volition, and 
association. A small volume on this subject by some ingenious writer, 



156 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

Shout round the globe, how Reproduction strives 
With vanquish'd Death, — and Happiness survives; 
How Life increasing peoples every clime, 
And young renascent Nature conquers Time ; 



might not only amuse, as an object of curiosity; but by showing the 
world the immediate sources of their pains and pleasures might teach 
the means to avoid the one, and to procure the other, and thus 
contribute both ways to increase the sum total of organic happiness. 

How Life increasing, 1. 453. Not only the vast calcareous pro- 
vinces, which form so great a part of the terraqueous globe, and also 
whatever rests upon them, as clay, marl, sand, and coal, were formed 
from the fluid elements of heat, oxygen, azote, and hydrogen along 
with carbon, phosphorus, and perhaps a few other substances, which 
the science of chemistry has not yet decomposed; and gave the 
pleasure of life to the animals and vegetables, which formed them; 
and thus constitute monuments of the past happiness of those organized 
beings. But as those remains of former life are not again totally de- 
composed, or converted into their original elements, they supply 
more copious food to the succession of new animal or vegetable 
beings on their surface; which consists of materials convertible into 
nutriment with less labour or activity of the digestive powers ; and 
hence the quantity or number of organized bodies, and their im- 
provement in size, as well as their happiness, has been continually 
increasing, along with the solid parts of the globe; and will proba- 
bly continue to increase, till the whole terraqueous sphere, and all 
that inhabit it shall dissolve by a general conflagration, and be again 
reduced to their elements. 

Thus all the suns, and the planets, which circle round them, may 
again sink into one central chaos; and may again by explosions pro- 



canto ir. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 167 

— And high in golden characters record 

The immense munificence of Nature's Lord! — 



" He gives and guides the sun's attractive force, 
And steers the planets in their silver course; 
With heat and light revives the golden day, 
And breathes his spirit on organic clay; 460 

With hand unseen directs the general cause 
By firm immutable immortal laws." 

Charm'd with her words the Muse astonish'd stands, 
The Nymphs enraptured clasp their velvet hands; 
Applausive thunder from the fane recoils, 
And holy echoes peal along the ailes; 
O'er Nature's shrine celestial lustres glow, 
And lambent glories circle round her brow. 

duce a new world ; which in process of time may resemble the pre- 
sent one, and at length again undergo the same catastrophe! these 
great events may be the result of the immutable laws impressed on 
matter by the Great Cause of Causes, Parent of Parents, Ens Entiuni! 



1-68 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

IV. Now sinks the golden sun, — the vesper song 
Demands the tribute of Urania's tongue; 470 

Onward she steps, her fair associates calls 
From leaf-wove avenues, and vaulted halls. 
Fair virgin trains in bright procession move, 
Trail their long robes, and whiten all the grove; 
Pair after pair to Nature's temple sweep, 
Thread the broad arch, ascend the winding steep; 
Through brazen gates along susurrant ailes 
Stream round their Goddess the successive files; 
Curve above curve to golden seats retire, 
And star with beauty the refulgent quire. 480 

And first to Heaven the consecrated throng 
With chant alternate pour the adoring song, 
Swell the full hymn, now high, and now profound, 
With sweet responsive symphony of sound. 
Seen through their wiry harps, below, above, 
Nods the fair brow, the twinkling fingers move; 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 169 

Soft-warbling flutes the ruby lip commands, 
And cymbals ring with high uplifted hands. 

To Chaos next the notes melodious pass, 
How suns exploded from the kindling mass, 4QO 

Waved o'er the vast inane their tresses bright, 
And charm'd young Nature's opening eyes with light. 
Next from each sun how spheres reluctant burst, 
And second planets issued from the first. 
And then to Earth descends the moral strain, 
How isles, emerging from the shoreless main, 
With sparkling streams and fruitful groves began, 
And form'd a Paradise for mortal man. 

Sublimer notes record Celestial Love, 
And high rewards in brighter climes above; 500 

To Chaos next. 1. 489- 

Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coaeta 
Semina terrarumque, animseque, marisque fuissent; 
Et liquid! simul ignis; ut his exordia primis 
Omnia, et ipse tenermundi concreverit orbis. 

Virg. Ec. VI. LSI. 
z 



170 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. canto iv. 

How Virtue's beams with mental charm engage 
Youth's raptured eye, and warm the frost of age, 
Gild with soft lustre Death's tremendous gloom, 
And light the dreary chambers of the tomb. 
How fell Remorse shall strike with venom'd dart, 
Though maiPd in adamant, the guilty heart; 
Fierce furies drag to pains and realms unknown 
The blood- stain'd tyrant from his tottering throne. 

By hands unseen are struck aerial wires, 
And Angel- tongues are heard amid the quires; 510 

From aile to aile the trembling concord floats, 
And the wide roof returns the mingled notes, 
Through each fine nerve the keen vibrations dart, 
Pierce the charm'd ear, and thrill the echoing heart. — 

Mute the sweet voice, and still the quivering strings, 
Now Silence hovers on unmoving wings. — 
— Slow to the altar fair Urania bends 
Her graceful march, the sacred steps ascends, 



canto iv. OF GOOD AND EVIL. 171 

High in the midst with blazing censer stands, 

And scatters incense with illumined hands: 520 

Thrice to the Goddess bows with solemn pause, 

With trembling awe the mystic veil withdraws, 

And, meekly kneeling on the gorgeous shrine, 

Lifts her ecstatic eyes to Truth Divine! 524 



END OF CANTO IV. 



CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. 



CANTO I. 



Line. 

36 Origin of European Nations. 

76 Early use of Painting and Hiero- 
glyphics. 

83 Proteus represents Time* 
126 Cave of Trophonius. 
137 Eleusinian Mysteries. 
176 Antiquity of Statuary, casting Fi- 
gures, and Carving. 
224 Infancy of the present World. 
235 Of Heat. 
239 Of Attraction. 
245 Of Contraction. 
259 Arteries not conical. 



Line. 

262 Venous Absorption. 
268 Decrease of the Ocean. 
270 Sensation and Volition. 
283 Mucor, Vibrio. 
295 Animals are first aquatic. 
315 Sea, originally was not Salt. 
327 Animals from the Sea. 
335 Aquatic Plants. 

343 Fro s s - 

363 Rainbow in Northern Latitudes. 
372 Venus rising from the Sea. 
392 The Fetus in the Womb. 
417 Animals from the Mud of the Nile. 



CANTO II. 



1 Shortness of Life. 

3 Old Age surprising. 
39 Organic and chemical Properties. 
43 Immortality of Matter. 
47 Adonis emblem of Life. 
71 The Truffle, Lycoperdon. 
83 Volvox. 
85 Polypus. 
87 Taenia. 

89 Oysters. 

90 Coral-Insect. 

114 Female Sex produced. 
1 1 8 Power of Imagination. 
122 Mankind were formerly Herma- 
phrodites and Quadrupeds. 



167 Hereditary Diseases of Vegetables. 

223 Psyche and Cupid. 

268 Some Honey poisonous. 

271 Appetency and Propensity. 

280 Vallisneria. 

288 Lampyris. 

302 Insects from Anthers and Stigmas. 

321 Horns of Stags, and Tusks of 

Boars, Spurs of Cocks. 
351 Chick in the Egg. 
356 Songs of Birds. 
373 How Fish swim. 
375 How Birds fly. 
434 Of Smiles, and of Laughter. 



174 



CONTENTS OF THE NOTES. 



CANTO III. 



Line. 

13 Oxyge*n,andHydrogen, and Azote. 
2 1 Two electric Ethers. 
64 Irritation. 

72 Sensation. 

73 Volition, Memory. 
81 Intuitive Analogy. 
91 Association. 

103 Armour of Brutes. 
122 Of the Human Hand. 
125 Perception of Figure. 

144 Sight the Language of the Touch. 

145 Surprise, Novelty, Curiosity. 
152 The Lips an Organ of Touch. 
176 Ideal Beauty. 

178 Two Deities of Love. 

207 Idea of Beauty from the Female 

Bosom. 
230 Taste for Sublimity. 
237 Poetic Melancholy. 



Line. 

246 Taste for Tragedy. 

258 Taste for uncultivated Nature. 

270 Accumulation of sensorial Power. 

294 Imitation described. 

303 Imitation of one Sense by another. 

319 Mimickry or Resemblance. 

334 The Parts of the System imitate 

each other. 
342 External Signs of Passions. 
371 Theory of Language. 
398 Ideas so called are parts of a train 

of Actions. 
401 Of Reason. 
411 Reasoning of Insects. 
435 Volition distinguishes Mankind. 
456 If Knowledge produces Happiness. 
466 Sympathy the source of Virtue. 
485 Maxim of Socrates. 



CANTO IV. 



29 Oestrus or Gadfly. 

33 Ichneumon fly. 

37 Libellula. 

39 Bees. 

57 Shark. 

59 Crocodile 

66 Animals prey on Vegetables. 

7 1 Defect of Stimulus. 

87 Theatric Preachers. 

93 Pleasure of Life, Ennui. 

94 Of Tooth -edge. 

119 Epidemic Complaints. 

1 30 Compassion may be too great. 

147 Doctrine of Atoms. 

160 Pleasure of viewing a Landscape. 

178 Pleasure from Music. 

242 Ancient Orators spoke disrespect- 
fully of the mechanic Philoso- 
phers. 



270 Influence of Printing. 

299 Associated ideas of three Classes. 

309 Wit defined. 

349 Surprising number of Seeds. 

351 Of the Aphis, its Numbers. 

352 Aphis drinks the Sap-juice. 
359 The Mutation of the Tadpole. 
387 Animation near the Surface of the 

Earth. 

387 All dead animal and vegetable 
Bodies become animated. 

403 Doctrine of St. Paul. 

411 Happiness increased. 

417 Doctrine of Pythagoras. 

431 Geology. 

450 Method of investigation of Orga- 
nic happiness. 

453 Organic Life increases. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

SPONTANEOUS VITALITY OF MICROSCOPIC ANIMALS. 



Hence without parent by spontaneous birth 

Eise the first specks of animated earth. Canto I. 1. 22/. 



Prejudices against this doctrine. 

I. From the misconception of the ignorant or superstitious, it has 
been thought somewhat profane to speak in favour of spontaneous 
vital production, as if it contradicted holy writ; which says, that God 
created animals and vegetables. They do not recollect that God 
created all things which exist, and that these have been from the be- 
ginning in a perpetual state of improvement; which appears from the 
globe itself, as well as from the animals and vegetables, which possess 
it. And lastly, that there is more dignity in our idea of the supreme 
author of all things, when we conceive him to be the cause of causes, 
than the cause simply of the events, which we see; if there can be 
any difference in infinity of power ! 

Another prejudice which has prevailed against the spontaneous 
production of vitality, seems to have arisen from the misrepresenta- 
tion of this doctrine, as if the larger animals had been thus produced; 
as Ovid supposes after the deluge of Deucalion, that lions were seen 
rising out of the mud of the Nile, and struggling to disentangle their 
hinder parts. It was not considered, that animals and vegetables 
liave been perpetually improving by reproduction; and that sponta- 
neous vitality was only to be looked for in the simplest organic beings, 
as in the smallest microscopic animalcules; which perpetually, perhaps 
"hourly, enlarge themselves by reproduction, like the roots of tulips 
from seed, or the buds of seedling trees, which die annually, leaving 
others by solitary reproduction rather more perfect than themselves 

B 



Q Additional Notes. 

for many successive years, till at length they acquire sexual organs 
or flowers, 

A third prejudice against the existence of spontaneous vital pro- 
ductions has been the supposed want of analogy ; this has also arisen 
from the expectation, that the larger or more complicated animals 
should be thus produced ; which have acquired their present perfec- 
tion by successive generations during an uncounted series of ages. 
Add to this, that the want of analogy opposes the credibility of all 
new discoveries, as of the magnetic needle, and coated electric jar, 
and Galvanic pile; which should therefore certainly be well weighed 
and nicely investigated before distinct credence is given them ; but 
then the want of analogy must at length yield to repeated ocular de- 
monstration. 



Preliminary observations. 

II. Concerning the spontaneous production of the smallest micro- 
scopic animals it should be first observed, that the power of reproduc- 
tion distinguishes organic being, whether vegetable or animal, from 
inanimate nature. The circulation of fluids in vessels may exist in 
hydraulic machines, but the power of reproduction belongs alone to life. 
This reproduction of plants and of animals is of two kinds, which may 
be termed solitary and sexual. The former of these, as in the repro- 
duction of the buds of trees, and of the bulbs of tulips, and of the 
polypus, and aphis, appears to- be the first or most simple mode of 
generation, as many of these organic beings afterwards acquire sexual 
organs, as the flowers of seedling trees, and of seedling tulips, and the 
autumnal progeny of the aphis. See Phytologia. 

Secondly, it should be observed, that by reproduction organic 
beings are gradually enlarged and improved; which may perhaps 
more rapidly and uniformly occur in the simplest modes of animated 
being; but occasionally also in the more complicated and perfect 
kinds. Thus the buds of a seedling tree, or the bulbs of seedling 
tulips, become larger and stronger in the second year than the first, 
and thus improve till they acquire flowers or sexes ; and the aphis, I 



Spontaneous Vitality of Microscopic Animals. 3 

believe, increases in bulk to the eighth or ninth generation, and then 
produces a sexual progeny. Hence the existence of spontaneous 
vitality is only to be expected to be found in the simplest modes of 
animation, as the complex ones have been formed by many successive 
reproductions. 



Eaperimen tal facts. 

III. By the experiments of Buffon, Reaumur, Ellis, Ingenhouz, 
and others, microscopic animals are produced in three or four days, 
according to the. warmth of the season, in the infusions of all vegetable 
or animal matter. One or more of these gentlemen put some boiling 
veal broth into a phial previously heated in the fire, and sealing it up 
hermetically or with melted wax, observed it to be replete with ani- 
malcules in three or four days. 

These microscopic animals are believed to possess a power of 
generating others like themselves by solitary reproduction without 
sex; and these gradually enlarging and improving for innumerable 
successive generations. Mr. Ellis in Phil. Transact. V. LIX. gives 
drawings of six kinds of animalcula infusoria, which increase by divid- 
ing across the middle into two distinct animals. Thus in paste com- 
posed of flour and water, which has been suffered to become acescent, 
the animalcules called eels, vibrio anguillula, are seen in great abund- 
ance; their motions are rapid and strong; they are viviparous, and 
produce at intervals a numerous progeny: animals similar to these are 
also found in vinegar; Naturalist's Miscellany by Shaw and Nodder, 
Vol. II. These eels were probably at first as minute as other micro- 
scopic animalcules; but by frequent, perhaps hourly reproduction, 
have gradually become the large animals above described, possessino- 
wonderful strength and activity. 

To suppose the eggs of the former microscopic animals to float in 
the atmosphere, and pass through the sealed glass phial, is so contrary 
to apparent nature, as to be totally incredible! and as the latter are 
viviparous, it is equally absurd to suppose, that their parents float 
universally in the atmosphere to lay their young in paste or vinegar! 



4 Additional Notes. 

Not only microscopic animals appear to be produced by a sponta- 
neous vital process, and then quickly improve by solitary generation 
like the buds of trees, or like the polypus and aphis, but there is one 
vegetable body, which appears to be produced by a spontaneous vital 
process, and is believed to be propagated and enlarged in so short a 
time by solitary generation as to become visible to the naked eye; I 
mean the green matter first attended to by Dr. Priestley, and called 
by him conferva fontinalis. The proofSj that this material is a vege- 
table, are from its giving up so much oxygen, when exposed to the 
sunshine, as it grows in water, and from its green colour. 

Dr. Ingenhouz asserts, that by filling a bottle with well-water, 
and inverting it immediately into a basin of well-water, this green 
vegetable is formed in great quantity; and he believes, that the water 
itself, or some substance contained in the water, is converted into this 
kind of vegetation, which then quickly propagates itself. 

M. Girtanner asserts, that this green vegetable matter is not pro- 
duced by water and heat alone, but requires the sun's light for this 
purpose, as he observed by many experiments, and thinks it arises 
from decomposing water deprived of a part of its oxygen, and laughs 
at Dr. Priestley for believing that the seeds of this conferva, and the 
parents of microscopic animals, exist universally in the atmosphere, 
and penetrate the sides of glass jars; Philos. Magazine for May 1800. 

Besides this green vegetable matter of Dr. Priestley, there is another 
vegetable, the minute beginnings of the growth of which Mr. Ellis 
observed by his microscope near the surface of all putrefying vege- 
table or animal matter, which is the mucor or mouldiness; the vege- 
tation of which was amazingly quick so as to be almost seen, and 
soon became so large as to be visible to the naked eye. It is difficult 
to conceive how the seeds of this mucor can float so universally in the 
atmosphere as to fix itself on all putrid matter,in all places. 



Theory of Spontaneous Vitality.. 

IV. In animal nutrition the organic matter of the bodies of dead 
animals, or vegetables, is taken into the stomach, and there suffers 



Spontaneous Vitality of Microscopic Animals. 5 

decompositions and new combinations by a chemical process. Some 
parts of it are however absorbed by the lacteals as fast as they are 
produced by this process of digestion; in which circumstance this 
process differs from common chemical operations. 

In vegetable nutrition the organic matter of dead animals, or ve- 
getables, undergoes chemical decompositions and new combinations 
on or beneath the surface of the earth; and parts of it, as they are 
produced, are perpetually absorbed by the roots of the plants in contact 
with it; in which this also differs from common chemical processes. 

Hence the particles which are produced from dead organic matter 
by chemical decompositions or new consequent combinations, are 
found proper for the purposes of the nutrition of living vegetable and 
animal bodies, whether these decompositions and new combinations 
are performed in the stomach or beneath the soiL 

For the purposes of nutrition these digested or decomposed recre- 
ments of dead animal or vegetable matter are absorbed by the lacteals 
of the stomachs of animals or of the roots of vegetables, and carried 
into the circulation of their blood, and these compose new organic 
parts to replace others which are destroyed, or to increase the growth 
of the plant or animal. 

It is probable, that as in inanimate or chemical combinations, one 
of the composing materials must possess a power of attraction, and the 
other an aptitude to be attracted; so in organic or animated composi- 
tions there must be particles with appetencies to unite, and other par- 
ticles with propensities to. be united with them. 

Thus in the generation of the buds of trees, it is probable that 
two kinds of vegetable matter, as they are separated from the solid 
system, and float in the circulation, become arrested by two kinds of 
vegetable glands, and are then deposed beneath the cuticle of the 
tree, and there join together forming a new vegetable, the caudex of 
which extends from the plumula at the summit to the radicles be- 
neath the soil, and constitutes a single fibre of the bark. 

These particles appear to be of two kinds; one of them possessing 
an appetency to unite with the other, and the latter a propensity to 
be united with the former; and they are probably separated from the 
vegetable blood by two kinds of glands, one representing those of the 



6 Additional Notes. 

anthers, and the others those of the stigmas, in the sexual organs 
of vegetables; which is spoken of at large in Phytologia, Sect. VII. 
and in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXXIX. 8. of the third edition, in 
octavo ; where it is likewise shown, that none of these parts which are 
deposited beneath the cuticle of the tree, is in itself a complete vege- 
table embryon, but that they form one by their reciprocal conjunction. 

So in the sexual reproduction of animals, certain parts sepai^ated 
from the living organs, and floating in the blood, are* arrested by the 
sexual glands of the female, and others by those of the male. Of 
these none are complete embryon animals, but form an embryon by 
their reciprocal conjunction. 

There hence appears to be an analogy between generation and nu- 
trition, as one is the production of new organization, and the other 
the restoration of that which previously existed; and which may 
therefore be supposed to require materials somewhat similar. Now 
the food taken up by animal lacteals is previously prepared by the 
chemical process of digestion in the stomach; but that which is taken 
up by vegetable lacteals, is prepared by chemical dissolution of organic 
matter beneath the surface of the earth. Thus the particles, which 
form generated animal embryons, are prepared from dead organic 
matter by the chemico-animal processes of sanguification and of secre- 
tion; while those which form spontaneous microscopic animals or 
microscopic vegetables are prepared by chemical dissolutions and new 
combinations of organic matter in watery fluids with sufficient warmth. 

It may be here added, that the production and properties of some 
kinds of inanimate matter, are almost as difficult to comprehend as 
those of the simplest degrees of animation. Thus the elastic gum, 
or caoutchouc, and some fossile bitumens, when drawn out to a great 
length, contract themselves by their elasticity, like an animal fibre 
by stimulus. The laws of action of these, and all other elastic bodies, 
are not yet understood; as the laws of the attraction of cohesion, to 
produce these effects, must be very different from those of general 
attraction, since the farther the particles of elastic bodies are drawn 
from each other till they separate, the stronger they seem to attract; 
and the nearer they are pressed together, the more they seem to 
repel; as in bending a spring, or in extending a piece of elastic gum; 



Spontaneous Vitality of Microscopic Animals. 7 

which is the reverse to what/occurs in the attractions of disunited bodies; 
and much wants further investigation. So the spontaneous production 
of alcohol or of vinegar, by the vinous and acetous fermentations, as 
well as the production of a mucus by putrefaction which will contract 
when extended, seems almost as difficult to understand as the sponta- 
neous production of a fibre from decomposing animal or vegetable 
substances, which will contract when stimulated, and thus constitutes 
the primordium of life. 

Some of the microscopic animals are said to remain dead for many 
days or weeks, when the fluid in which they existed is dried up, 
and quickly to recover life and motion by the fresh addition of 
water and warmth. Thus the chaos redivivum of Linnasus dwells in 
vinegar and in bookbinders paste: it revives by water after having 
been dried for years, and is both oviparous and viviparous; Syst. Nat. 
Thus the vorticella or wheel animal, which is found in rain water that 
has stood some days in leaden gutters, or in hollows of lead on the 
tops of houses, or in the slime or sediment left by such water, though 
it discovers no sign of life except when in the water, yet it is capable 
of continuing alive for many months though kept in a dry state. In 
this state it is of a globulous shape, exceeds not the bigness of a grain 
of sand, and no signs of life appear; but being put into water, in the 
space of half an hour a languid motion begins, the globule turns itself 
about, lengthens itself by slow degrees, assumes the form of a lively 
maggot, and most commonly in a few minutes afterwards puts out its 
wheels, swimming vigorously through the water as if in search of 
food; or else, fixing itself by the tail, works the wheels in such a 
manner as to bring its food to its mouth; English Encyclopedia, Art. 
Animalcule. 

Thus some shell-snails in the cabinets of the curious have been 
kept in a dry state for ten years or longer, and have revived on being- 
moistened with warmish -svater; Philos. Transact. So eggs and seeds 
after many months torpor, are revived by warmth and moisture; 
hence it may be concluded, that even the organic particles of dead 
animals may, when exposed to a due degree of warmth and mois 
ture, regain some degree of vitality, since this is done by more com- 
plicate animal organs in the instances above mentioned. 



S Additional Notes. 

The hydra of Linnasus, which dwells in the rivers of Europe under 
aquatic plants, has been observed by the curious of the present time, 
to revive after it has been dried, to be restored after being mutilated, 
to multiply by being divided, to be propagated from small portions, 
to live after being inverted ; all which would be best explained by 
the doctrine of spontaneous reproduction from organic particles not 
yet completely decomposed. 

To this should be added, that these microscopic animals are found 
in all solutions of vegetable or animal matter in Abater ; as black 
pepper steeped in water, hay suffered to become putrid in water, and 
the water of dunghills, afford animalcules in astonishing numbers. 
See Mr. Ellis's curious account of Animalcules produced from an infu- 
sion of Potatoes and Hempseed; Philos. Transact. Vol. LIX. from all 
which it would appear, that organic particles of dead vegetables and 
animals during their usual chemical changes into putridity or acidity, 
do not lose all their organization or vitality, but retain so much of it 
as to unite with the parts of living animals in the process of nutrition, 
or unite and produce new complicate animals by secretion as in gener- 
ation, or produce very simple microscopic animals or microscopic 
vegetables, by their new combinations in warmth and moisture. 

And finally, that these microscopic organic bodies are multiplied 
and enlarged by solitary reproduction Avithout sexual intercourse till 
they acquire greater perfection or new properties. Lewenhoek ob- 
served in rain-water which had stood a few days, the smallest scarcely 
visible microscopic animalcules, and in a few more days he observed 
others eight times as large; English Encyclop. Art. Animalcule. 



Conclusion. 

There is therefore no absurdity in believing that the most simple 
animals and vegetables may be produced by the congress of the parts 
of decomposing organic matter, without what can properly be termed 
generation, as the genus did not previously exist; which accounts 
for the endless varieties, as well as for the immense numbers of micro- 
scopic animals. 



Spontaneous Vitality of Microscopic Animals. 5 

The green vegetable matter of Dr. Priestley, which is universally 
produced in stagnant water, and the mucor, or mouldiness, which is 
seen on the surface of all putrid vegetable and animal matter, have 
probably no parents, but a spontaneous origin from the congress of the 
decomposing organic particles, and afterwards propagate themselves. 
Some other fungi, as those growing in close wine-vaults, or others 
which arise from decaying trees, or rotten timber, may perhaps be 
owing to a similar spontaneous production, and not previously exist 
as perfect organic beings in the juices of the wood, as some have 
supposed. In the same manner it would seem, that the common escu- 
lent mushroom is produced from horse dung at any time and in any 
place, as is the common practice of many gardiners; Kennedy on 
Gardening. 

Appendix. 

The knowledge of microscopic animals is still in its infancy: those 
already known are arranged by Mr. Muller into the following classes; 
but it is probable, that many more classes, as -well as innumerable 
individuals, may be discovered by improvements of the microscope, as 
Mr. Herschell has discovered so many thousand stars, •which were 
before invisible, by improvements of the telescope. 

Mr. Muller's classes consist of 

I. Such as hate no External Organs. 

1. Monas: Punctiformis. A mere point 

2. Proteus: Mutabilis. Mutable. 

3. Volvox: Sphaericum. Spherical. 

4. Enchelis: Cylindracea. Cylindrical. 

5. Vibrio: Elongatum. Long. 

* Membranaceous. 

6. Cyclidium: Ovale. Oval. 

7. Paramecium: Oblongum. Oblong. 

8. Kolpoda: Sinuatum. Sinuous. 

9. Gonium : Angulatum. With angles. 
10. Bursaria. Hollow like a purse. 

C 



10 . Additional Notes. 



II. Those that have External Organs. 

* Naked, or not enclosed in a shell. 

1. Cercaria: Caudatum. With a tail. 

2. Trichoda: Crinitum. Hairy. 

3. Kerona: Corniculatum. With horns. 

4. Himantopus: Cirratum. Cirrated. 

5. Leucophra: Ciliatum undique. Every part ciliated. 

6. Vorticella: Ciliatum apice. The apex ciliated. 

* Covered with a shell. 

7. Brachionus: Ciliatum apice. The apex ciliated. 

1. These animalcules are discovered in two or three days in all 
decompositions of organic matter, whether vegetable or animal, in 
moderate degrees of warmth with sufficient moisture. 

2. They appear to enlarge in a few days, and some to change their 
form; which are probably converted from more simple into more com- 
plicate animalcules by repeated reproductions. See Note VIII. 

3. In their early state they seem to multiply by viviparous solitary 
reproduction, either by external division, as the smaller ones, or by 
an internal progeny, as the eels in paste or vinegar; and lastly, in 
their more mature state, the larger ones are said to appear to have 
sexual connexion. Engl. Encyclop. 

4. Those animalcules discovered in pustules of the itch, in the 
feces of dysenteric patients, and in semine s masculino, I suppose to be 
produced by the stagnation and incipient decomposition of those 
materials in their receptacles, and not to exist in the living blood or 
recent secretions; as none, I believe, have been discovered in blood 
when first drawn from the arm, or in fluids newly secreted from the 
glands, which have not previously stagnated in their reservoirs. 

5. They are observed to move in all directions with ease and 
rapidity, and to avoid obstacles, and not to interfere with each other 
in their motions. When the water is in part evaporated, they are seen 
to flock towards the remaining part, and show great agitation. They 
sustain a great degree of cold, as some insects, and perish in much the 



Spontaneous Vitality of Microscopic Animals. \ \ 

same degree of heat as destroys insects ; all which evince that they 
are living animals. 

And it is probable, that other or similar animalcules may be pro- 
duced in the air, or near the surface of the earth, but it is not so easy 
to view them as in water; which as it is transparent, the creatures 
produced in it can easily be observed by applying a drop to a micro- 
scope. I hope that microscopic researches may again excite the atten- 
tion of philosophers, as unforeseen advantages may probably be 
derived from them, like the discovery of a new world. 



12 

ADDITIONAL NOTES. II. 
THE FACULTIES OF THE SENSORIUM. 



Next the long nerves unite their silver train, 

And young Sensation permeates the brain. Cant. I. 1. 250. 



I. The fibres, which constitute the muscles and organs of sense, 
possess a power of contraction. The circumstances attending the exer- 
tion of this poAver of contraction constitute the laws of animal mo- 
tion, as the circumstances attending the exertion of the power of 
attraction constitute the laws of motion of inanimate matter. 

II. The spirit of animation is the immediate cause of the contrac- 
tion of animal fibres, it resides in the brain and nerves, and is liable 
to general or partial diminution or accumulation. 

III. The stimulus of bodies external to the moving organ is the 
remote cause of the original contractions of animal fibres. 

IV. A certain quantity of stimulus produces irritation, which is an 
exertion of the spirit of animation exciting the fibres into contraction. 

V. A certain quantity of contraction of animal fibres, if it be per- 
ceived at all, produces pleasure; a greater or less quantity of con- 
traction, if it be perceived at all, produces pain; these constitute 
sensation. 

VI. A certain quantity of sensation produces desire or aversion; 
these constitute volition. 

VII. All animal motions which have occurred at the same time, or 
in immediate succession, become so connected, that when one of them 
is reproduced, the other has a tendency to accompany or succeed it. 
When fibrous contractions succeed or accompany other fibrous con- 
tractions, the connexion is termed association; when fibrous contrac- 
tions succeed sensorial motions, the connexion is termed causation; 
when fibrous and sensorial motions reciprocally introduce each other,, 
it is termed catenation of animal motions. 



The Faculties of the Sensorium. 13 

VIII. These four faculties of the sensorium during their inactive 
state are termed irritability, sensibility, voluntarity, and associability; 
in their active state they are termed as above irritation, sensation, 
volition, association. 

Irritation is an exertion or change of some extreme part of the 
sensorium residing in the muscles or organs of sense, in consequence 
of the appulses of external bodies. 

Sensation is an exertion or change of the central parts of the sen- 
sorium, or of the whole of it, beginning at some of those extreme 
parts of it, which reside in the muscles or organs of sense. 

Volition is an exertion or change of the central parts of the senso- 
rium, or of the whole of it, terminating in some of those extreme 
parts of it, which reside in the muscles or organs of sense. 

Association is an exertion or change of some extreme part of the 
sensorium residing in the muscles or organs of sense, in consequence 
of some antecedent or attendant fibrous contractions; see Zoonomia, 
Vol. I. 

The word sensorium is used to express not only the medullary 
part of the brain, spinal marrow, nerves, organs of sense and muscles, 
but also at the same time that living principle, or spirit of animation, 
which resides throughout the body, without being cognizable to our 
senses except by its effects. 



14 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. III. 



Next when imprison'd fires in central caves 

Burst the firm earth, and drank the headlong waves. Canto I. 1. 302. 



The great and repeated explosions of volcanoes are shown by Mr. 
Mitchell in the Philosoph. Transact, to arise from their communica- 
tion with the sea, or with rivers, or inundations; and that after a 
chink or crack is made, the Avater rushing into an immense burning 
cavern, and falling on boiling lava, is instantly expanded into steam, 
and produces irresistible explosions. 

As the first volcanic fires had no previous vent, and were probably 
more central, and larger in quantity, before they burst the crust of the 
earth then intire, and as the sea covered the whole, it must rapidly 
sink down into every opening chink; whence these primeval earth- 
quakes were of much greater extent, and of much greater force, than 
those which occur in the present era. 

It should be added, that there may be other elastic vapours pro- 
duced by great heat from whatever will evaporate, as mercury, and 
even diamonds; which may be more elastic, and consequently exert 
greater force than the steam of water even though heated red hot. 
Which may thence exert a sufficient power to raise islands and conti- 
nents, and even to throw the moon from the earth. 

If the moon be supposed to have been thus thrown out of the great 
cavity which now contains the South Sea, the immense quantity of 
water flowing in from the primeval ocean, which then covered the 
earth, would much contribute to leave the - continents and islands, 
which might be raised at the same time above the surface of the water. 
In later days there are accounts of large stones falling from the sky, 
which may have been thus thrown by explosion from some distant 
earthquake, without sufficient force to cause them to circulate round 
the earth, and thus produce numerous small moons or satellites. 



Volcanic Fires. ] 5 

Mr. Mitchell observes, that the agitations of the earth from the 
great earthquake at Lisbon were felt in this country about the same 
time after the shock, as sound would have taken in passing from Lisbon 
hither; and thence ascribes these agitations to the vibrations of the 
solid earth, and not to subterraneous caverns of communication; 
Philos. Transact. But from the existence of warm springs at Bath 
and Buxton, there must certainly be unceasing subterraneous fires at 
some great depth beneath those parts of this island; see on this sub- 
ject Botanic Garden, Vol. II. Canto IV. 1. 79, note. For an account 
of the noxious vapours emitted from volcanoes, see Botanic Garden, 
Vol. II. Cant. IV. 1. 328, note. For the milder effects of central 
fires, see Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Cant. I. 1. 139, and Additional 
Note VI. 



16 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. IV. 



So from deep lakes the dread musquito springs, 

Drinks the soft breeze, and dries his tender wings. Canto I. 1. 32?. 



The gnat, or musquito, culex pipiens. The larva of this insect lives 
chiefly in water, and the pupa moves with great agility. It is fished for 
by clucks ; and, when it becomes a fly, is the food of the young of par- 
tridges, quails, sparrows, swallows, and other small birds. The females 
wound us, and leave a red point; and in India their bite is more 
venomous. The male has its antennse and feelers feathered, and sel- 
dom bites or sucks blood; Lin. Syst. Nat. 

It may be driven away by smoke, especially by that from inula 
helenium, elecampane; and by that of cannabis, hemp. Kalm. It is 
said that a light in a chamber will prevent their attack on sleeping- 
persons. 

The gnats of this country are produced in greater numbers in 
some years than others, and are then seen in swarms for many even- 
ings near the lakes or rivers whence they arise; and, I suppose, 
emigrate to upland situations, where fewer of them are produced. 
About thirty years ago such a swarm was observed by Mr. Whitehurst 
for a day or two about the lofty tower of Derby church, as to give a 
suspicion of the fabric being on fire. 

Many other kinds of flies have their origin in the water, as per- 
haps the whole class of neuroptera. Thus the libellula, dragon fly : 
the larva of which hurries amid the water, and is the cruel crocodile 
of aquatic insects. After they become flies, they prey principally on 
the class of insects termed lepidoptera, and diptera of Linneus. The 
ephemera is another of this order, which rises from the lakes in such 
quantities in some countries, that the rustics have carried cart-loads 
of them to manure their corn lands; the larva swims in the water: 
in its fly-state the pleasures of life are of short duration, as its mar- 



MvLsqulto. 17 

riage, production of its progeny, and funeral, are often celebrated in 
one day. The phryganea is another fly of this order; the larva lies 
concealed under the water in moveable cylindrical tubes of their own 
making. In the fly-state they institute evening dances in the air in 
swarms, and are fished for by the swallows. 

Many other flies, who do not leave their eggs in water, contrive 
to lay them in moist places, as the oestros bovis; the larva? of which 
exist in the bodies of cattle, where they are nourished during the 
winter, and are occasionally extracted by a bird of the crow-kind 
called buphaga. These larva? are also found in the stomachs of 
horses, whom they sometimes destroy; another species of them adhere 
to the anus of horses, and creep into the lowest bowel, and are called 
botts; and another species enters the frontal sinus of sheep, occasion- 
ing a vertigo called the turn. The musca pendula lives in stagnant 
water; the larva is suspended by a thread-form respiratory tube; of 
the musca chamasleon, the larva lives in fountains, and the fly occa- 
sionally walks upon the water. The musca vomitoria is produced in 
carcases; three of these flies consume the dead body of a horse as soon 
as a lion. Lin. Syst. Nat. 



D 



38 



.ADDITIONAL NOTE. V. 
AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 

So stil the Diodons, amphibious tribe, 

With twofold lungs the sea and air imbibe. Cant. I. 1. 331. 

D. D. Garden dissected the amphibious creature called diodon by 
Linneus, and was amazed to find that it possessed both external gills 
and internal lungs, which he described and prepared and sent to 
Linneus; who thence put this animal into the order nantes of his class 
amphibia. He adds also, in his account of polymorpha before the 
class amphibia, that some of this class breathe by lungs only, and 
others by both lungs and gills. 

Some amphibious quadrupeds, as the beaver, water rat, and otter, 
are said to have the foramen ovale of the heart open, which communi- 
cates from one cavity of it to the other; and that, during their con- 
tinuance under water, the blood can thus for a time circulate without 
passing through the lungs; but as it cannot by these means acquire 
oxygen either from the air or water, these creatures find it frequently 
necessary to rise to the surface to respire. As this foramen ovale is 
always open in the foetus of quadrupeds, till after its birth that it 
begins to respire, it has been proposed by some to keep young puppies 
three or four times a day for a minute or two under warm water to pre- 
vent this communication from one cavity of the heart to the other from 
growing up; whence it has been thought such dogs might become 
amphibious. It is also believed that this circumstance has existed in 
some divers for pearl ; whose children are said to have been thus kept 
under water in their early infancy to enable them afterwards to suc- 
ceed in their employment. 

But the most frequent distinction of the amphibious animals, that 
live much in the water, is, that their heart consists but of one cell; 
and as they are pale creatures with but little blood, and that colder 



Amphibious Animals. 19 

and darker coloured, as frogs and lizards, they require less oxygen 
than the warmer animals with a greater quantity and more scarlet 
blood; and thence, though they have only lungs, they can stay long- 
under Abater without great inconvenience; but are all of them, like 
frogs, and crocodiles, and whales, necessitated frequently to rise above 
the surface for air. 

In this circumstance of their possessing a one-celied heart, and 
colder and darker blood, they approach to the state of fish; which 
thus appear not to acquire so much oxygen by their gills from the 
water as terrestrial animals do by their lungs from the atmosphere; 
whence it may be concluded that the gills of fish do not decompose 
the water which passes through them, and which contains so much 
more oxygen than the air, but that they only procure a small quantity 
of oxygen from the air which is diffused in the water; which also is 
further confirmed by an experiment with the air-pump, as fish soon 
die when put in a glass of water into the exhausted receiver, which 
they would not do if their gills had power to decompose the water and 
obtain the oxygen from it. 

The lamprey, petromyzon, is put by Linneus amongst the nantes, 
which are defined to possess both gills and lungs. It has seven spira- 
cula, or breathing holes, on each side of the neck, and by its more 
perfect lungs approaches to the serpent kind; Syst. Nat. The means 
by which it adheres to stones, even in rapid streams, is probably owing 
to a partial vacuum made by its respiring organs like sucking, and 
may be compared to the ingenious method by which boys are seen to 
lift large stones in the street, by applying to them a piece of strong 
moist leather with a string through the centre of it; which, when it 
is forcibly drawn upwards, produces a partial vacuum under it, and 
thus the stone is supported by the pressure of the atmosphere. 

The leech, hirudo, and the remora, echeneis, adhere strongly to 
objects probably by a similar method. I once saw ten or twelve 
leeches adhere to each foot of an old horse a little above his hoofs, 
who was grazinaa^i a morass, and which did not lose their hold when 
he moved about. The bare-legged travellers in Ceylon arc said to be 
much infested by leeches; and the sea-leech, hirudo muricata, is said 



20 Additional Notes. 

to adhere to fish, and the remora is said to adhere to ships in such 
numbers as to retard their progress. 

The respiratory organ of the whale, I suppose, is pulmonary in 
part, as he is obliged to come frequently to the surface, whence he 
can be pursued after he is struck with the harpoon; and may never- 
theless be in part like the gills of other fish, as he seems to draw in 
water when he is below the surface, and emits it again when he rises 
above it. 



■i* 



21 



ADDITIONAL NOTE. VI. 
HIEROGLYPHIC CHARACTERS. 

So erst as Egypt's rude designs explain. Canto I. i. 351. 

The outlines of animal bodies, which gave names to the constella- 
tions, as well as the characters used in chemistry for the metals, and 
in astronomy for the planets, were originally hieroglyphic figures, 
used by the magi of Egypt before the invention of letters, to record 
their discoveries in those sciences. 

Other hieroglyphic figures seem to have been designed to per- 
petuate the events of history, the discoveries in other arts, and the 
opinions of those ancient philosophers on other subjects. Thus their 
figures of Venus for beauty, Minerva for wisdom, Mars and Bellona 
for war, Hercules for strength, and many others, became afterwards 
the deities of Greece and Rome ; and together with the figures of 
Time, Death, and Fame, constitute the language of the painters to 
this day. 

From the similarity of the characters which designate the metals 
in chemistry, and the planets in astronomy, it may be concluded that 
these parts of science were then believed to be connected; whence 
astrology seems to have been a very early superstition. These, so far, 
constitute an universal visible language in those sciences. 

So the glory, or halo, round the head is a part of the universal 
language of the eye, designating a holy person; wings on the 
shoulders denote a good angel; and a tail and hoof denote the figure 
of an evil demon; to which may be added the cap of liberty and the 
tiara of popedorrw It is to be wished that many other universal cha- 
racters could be^rtroduced into practice, which might cither consti- 
tute a more comprehensive language for painters, or for other arts; 
as those of ciphers and signs have done for arithmetic and algebra, 
and crotchets for music, and the alphabets for articulate sounds; 



•22 Additional Notes. 

so a zigzag line made on white paper by a black-lead pencil, which 
communicates with the surface of the mercury in the barometer, as 
the paper itself is made constantly to move laterally by a clock, and 
daily to descend through the space necessary, has ingeniously pro- 
duced a most accurate visible account of the rise and fall of the 
mercury in the barometer every hour in the year. 

Mr. Grey's Memoria Technica was designed as an artificial lan- 
guage to remember numbers, as of the eras, or dates of history. 
This was done by substituting one consonant and one vowel for each 
figure of the ten cyphers used in arithmetic, and by composing words 
of these letters; which words Mr. Grey makes into hexameter verses, 
and produces an audible jargon, which is to be committed to memory, 
and occasionally analysed into numbers when required. An ingenious 
French botanist, Monsieur Bergeret, has proposed to apply this idea 
of Mr. Grey to a botanical nomenclature, by making the name of 
each plant to consist of letters, which, when analysed, were to signify 
the number of the class, order, genus, and species, with a description 
also of some particular part of the plant, which was designed to be 
both an audible and visible language. 

Bishop Wilkins in his elaborate " Essay towards a Real Character 
and a Philosophical Language," has endeavoured to produce, with the 
greatest simplicity, and accuracy, and conciseness, an universal lan- 
guage both to be written and spoken, for the purpose of the commu- 
nication of all our ideas with greater exactness and less labour than is 
done in common languages, as they are now spoken and written. 
But we have to lament that the progress of general science is yet too 
limited both for his purpose, and for that even of a nomenclature for 
botany; and that the science of grammar, and even the number and 
manner of the pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet, are not 
yet determined with such accuracy as would be necessary to constitute 
Bishop Wilkins's grand design of an universal language, which might 
facilitate the acquirement of knowledge, and thus add to the power 
and happiness of mankind. 



T6 

ADDITIONAL NOTE. VII. 
OLD AGE AND DEATH. 

The age-worn fibres goaded to contract 

By repetition palsied, cease to act. Canto II. 1. 4. 

I. Effects of Age. 

The immediate cause of the infirmities of age, or of the progress of 
life to death, has not yet been well ascertained. The answer to the 
question, why animals become feeble and diseased after a time, though 
nourished with the same food which increased their growth from in- 
fancy, and afterwards supported them for many years in unimpaired 
health and strength, must be sought for from the laws of animal 
excitability, which, though at first increased, is afterwards diminished 
by frequent repetitions of its adapted stimulus, and at length ceases 
to obey it. 

1. There are four kinds of stimulus which induce the fibres to con- 
tract, which constitute the muscles or the organs of sense; as, first, The 
application of external bodies, which excites into action the sensorial 
power of irritation; 2dly, Pleasure and pain, which excite into action 
the sensorial power of sensation; 3dly, Desire and aversion, which 
excite into action the power of volition; and lastly, The fibrous con- 
tractions, Which precede association, which is another sensorial power; 
see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. II. 13. 

Many of the motions of the organic system, which are necessary to 
life, are excited by more than one of these stimuli at the same time, 
and some of them occasionally by them all. Thus respiration is 
generally caused by the stimulus of blood in the lungs, or by the sen- 
sation of the want of oxygen; but is also occasionally voluntary. The 
actions of the heart also, though generally owing to the stimulus of 
the blood, are also inflamed by the association of its motions with 
those of the stomach, whence sometimes arises an inequality of the 
pulse, and with other parts of the system, as with the capillaries, 
whence heat of the skin in fevers with a feeble pulse, see Zoonomia. 



24- Additional Notes-. 

They are also occasionally influenced by sensation, as is seen in the 
paleness occasioned by fear, or the blush of shame and anger; and lastly 
the motionsof the heart are sometimes assisted by volition; thus in those 
who are much weakened by fevers, the pulse is liable to stop during 
their sleep, and to induce great distress; which is owing at that time 
to the total suspension of voluntary power; the same occurs during 
sleep in some asthmatic patients. 

Q. The debility of approaching age appears to be induced by the 
inactivity of many parts of the system, or their disobedience to their 
usual kinds and quantities of stimulus: thus the pallid appearance of 
the skin of old age is owing to the inactivity of the heart, which ceases 
to obey the irritation caused by the stimulus of the blood, or its asso- 
ciation with other moving organs with its former energy ; whence 
the capillary arteries are not sufficiently distended in their diastole, 
and consequently contract by their elasticity, so as to close the canal, 
and their sides gradually coalesce. Of these, those which are most 
distant from the heart, and of the smallest diameters, will soonest 
close, and become impervious; hence the hard pulse of aged patients 
is occasioned by the coalescence of the sides of the vasa vasorum, or 
capillary arteries of the coats of the other arteries. 

The veins of elderly people become turgid or distended with blood, 
and stand prominent on the skin; for as these do not possess the 
elasticity of the arteries, they become distended with accumulation 
of blood; when the heart by its lessened excitability does not contract 
sufficiently forcibly, or frequently, to receive, as fast as usual, the 
returning blood ; and their apparent prominence on the skin is occa- 
sioned by the deficient secretion of fat or mucus in the cellular mem- 
brane; and also to the contraction and coalescence and consequent less 
bulk, of many capillary arteries. 

3, Not only the muscular fibres lose their degree of excitability 
from age, as in the above examples; and as may be observed in the tre- 
mulous hands and feeble step of elderly persons ; but the organs of sense 
become less excitable by the stimulus of external objects; whence the 
sight and hearing become defective; the stimulus of the sensorial power 
ofsensation alsoless affects the aged, who grieve less for the loss of friends 
or for other disappointments; it should nevertheless be observed, that 



Old Age and Death. 25 

when the sensorial power of irritation is much exhausted, or its produc- 
tion much diminished ; the sensorial power of sensation appears for a time 
to be increased; as in intoxication there exists a kind of delirium and 
quick flow of ideas, and yet the person becomes so weak as to totter as he 
walks; but this delirium is owing to the defect of voluntary power to 
correct the streams of ideas by intuitive analogy, as in dreams : see 
Zoonomia: and thus also those who are enfeebled by habits of much 
vinous potation, or even by age alone, are liable to weep at shaking 
hands with a frieud, whom they have not lately seen; which is owin<>- 
to defect of voluntary power to correct their trains of ideas caused by 
sensation, and not to the increased quantity of sensation, as I formerly 
supposed. 

The same want of voluntary power to keep the trains of sensitive 
ideas consistent, and to compare them by intuitive analogy with the 
order of nature, is the occasion of the starting at the clapping to of 
a doer, or the fall of a key, which occasions violent surprise with fear 
and sometimes convulsions, in very feeble hysterical patients, and is 
not owing I believe (as I formerly supposed) to increased sensation; 
as they are less sensible to small stimuli than when in health. 

Old people are less able also to perform the voluntary exertions of 
exercise or of reasoning, and lastly the association of their ideas 
becomes more imperfect, as they are forgetful of the names of persons 
and places; the associations of which are less permanent, than those of 
the other words of a language, which are more frequently repeated. 

4. This disobedience of the fibres of age to their usual stimuli, has 
generally been ascribed to repetition or habit, as those who live near 
a large clock, or a mill, or a waterfall, soon cease to attend to the 
perpetual noise of it in the day, and sleep during the night undisturbed. 
Thus all medicines, if repeated too frequently, gradually lose their 
effect; as wine and opium cease to intoxicate : some disagreeable tastes, 
as tobacco, by frequent repetition cease to be disagreeable; grief and 
pain gradually diminish, and at length cease altogether; and hence 
life itself becomes tolerable. 

This diminished power of contraction of the fibres of the muscle* 
or organs of sense, which constitutes permanent debility or old age, 
may arise from a deficient secretion of sensorial power in the brain, as 

E ■ 



26 Additional Notes. 

well as from the disobedience of the muscles and organs of sense to 
their usual stimuli; but this less production of sensorial power must 
depend on the inactivity of the glands, which compose the brain, and 
are believed to separate it perpetually from the blood; and is thence 
owing to a similar cause with the inaction of the fibres of the other parts 
of the system. 

It is finally easy to understand how the fibres may cease to act by 
the usual quantity of stimulus after having been previously exposed to 
a greater quantity of stimulus, or to one too long continued; because 
the expenditure of sensorial power has then been greater than its produc- 
tion; but it is not easy to explain why the repetition of fibrous contrac- 
tions, which during the meridian of life did not expend the sensorial 
power faster than it was produced; or only in such a degree as 
was daily restored by rest and sleep, should at length in the advance 
of life expend too much of it; or otherwise, that less of it should be 
produced in the brain; or reside in the nerves; lastly that the fibres 
should become less excitable by the usual quantity of it. 

5. But these facts would seem to show, that all parts of the system 
are not changed as we advance in life, as some have supposed; as in 
that case it might have preserved for ever its excitability; and it 
might then perhaps have been easier for nature to have continued her 
animals and vegetables for ever in their mature state, than perpetually 
by a complicate apparatus to have produced new ones, and suffer the 
old ones to perish ; for a further account of stimulus and the conse- 
quent animal exertion, see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. ] 2. 



II. Means of preventing old age. 

The means of preventing the approach of age must therefore con- 
sist in preventing the inexcitability of the fibres, or the diminution of 
the production of sensorial power. 

1. As animal motion cannot be performed without the fluid matter 
of heat, in which all things are immersed, and without a sufficient 
quantity of moisture to prevent rigidity : nothing seems so well adapted 
to both these purposes as the use of the warm bath ; and especially in 



Old Age and Death. 87 

those, who become thin or emaciated with age, and who have a hard 
and dry skin, with hardness of the coat of the arteries; whicli feels 
under the finger like a cord ; the patient should sit in warm water 
for half an hour every day, or alternate days, or twice a week; the 
heat should be about ninety-eight degrees on Fahrenheit's scale, or of 
such a warmth, as may be most agreeable to his sensation ; but on 
leaving the bath he should always be kept so cool, whether he goe- 
into bed, or continues up, as not sensibly to perspire. 

There is a popular prejudice, that the warm bath relaxes people, 
and that the cold bath braces them; which are mechanical terms be- 
longing to drums and fiddle-strings, but not applicable except meta- 
phorically to animal bodies, and then commonly mean weakness and 
strength: during the continuance in the bath the patient does not lose 
weight, unless he goes in after a full meal, but generally weighs heavier 
as the absorption is greater than the perspiration; but if he suffers 
himself to sweat on his leaving the bath, he will undoubtedly be weak- 
ened by the increased action of the system, and its exhaustion : the 
same occurs to those who are heated by exercise, or by wine, or 
spice, but not during their continuance in the warm bath: 'whence 
we may conclude, that the warm bath is the most harmless of all those 
stimuli, which are greater than our natural habits have accustomed us 
to; and that it particularly counteracts the approach of old age in 
emaciated people with dry skins. 

It may be here observed in favour of bathing, that some fish are 
believed to continue to a great age, and continually to enlarge in 
size, as they advance in life ; and that long after their state of puberty. 
I have seen perch full of spawn, which were less than two inches long; 
and it is known, that they will grow to six or eight times that size; it 
is said, that the whales, which have been caught of late years, are 
much less in size than those, which were caught, when first the whale- 
fishery was established; as the large ones, which were supposed to have 
been some hundred years old, are believed to be already destroyed. 

All cold-blooded amphibious animals more slowly waste their senso- 
rial power; as they are accustomed to less stimulus from their respiring 
less oxygen; and their movements in water are slower than those of 
aerial animals from the greater resistance of the element. There besides 



28 Additional Notes. 

seems to be no obstacle to the growth of aquatic animals; as by means 
of the air-bladder, they can make their specific gravity the same as 
that of the water in which they swim. And the moisture of the 
element seems well adapted to counteract the rigidity of their fibres; 
and as their exertions in locomotion, and the pressure of some parts 
on others, are so much less than in the bodies of land animals. 

2. But as all excessive stimuli exhaust the sensorial power, and 
render the system less excitable for a time till the quantity of sen- 
sorial power is restored by sleep, or by the diminution or absence of 
stimulus; which is seen by the weakness of inebriates for a day at 
least after intoxication. And as the frequent repetition of this great 
and unnatural stimulus of fermented liquors produces a permanent 
debility, or disobedience of the system to the usual and natural kinds 
and quantities of stimulus, as occurs in those who have long been 
addicted to the ingurgitation of fermented liquors. 

And as, secondly, the too great deficiency of the quantity of 
natural stimuli, as of food, and warmth, or of fresh air, produces also 
diseases ; as is often seen in the children of the poor in large towns, 
who become scrofulous from want of due nourishment, and from 
cold, damp, unairy lodgings. 

The great and principal means to prevent the approach of old age 
and death, must consist in the due management of the quantity of 
every kind of stimulus, but particularly of that from objects external 
to the moving organ; which may excite into action too great or too 
small a quantity of the sensorial power of irritation, which principally 
actuates the vital organs. Whence the use of much wine, or opium, 
or spice, or of much salt, by their unnatural stimulus induces conse- 
quent debility, and shortens life, on the one hand, by the exhaustion 
of sensorial power; so on the other hand, the want of heat, food, and 
fresh air, induces debility from defect of stimulus, and a consequent 
accumulation of sensorial power, and a general debility of the system. 
Whence arise the pains of cold and hunger, and those which are 
called nervous; and which are the cause of hysteric, epileptic, and 
perhaps of asthmatic paroxysms, and of the cold fits of fever. 

3. Though all excesses of increase and decrease of stimulus should 
be avoided, yet a certain variation of stimulus seems to prolong the 



Old Age and Death. 29 

excitability of the system; as during any diminution of the usual 
quantity of stimulus, an accumulation of sensorial power is produced; 
and in consequence the excitability, which was lessened by the action 
of habitual stimulus, becomes restored. Thus those, who are uni- 
formly habituated to much artificial heat, as in warm parlours in the 
winter months, lose their irritability in some degree, and become 
feeble like hot-house plants; but by frequently going for a time into 
the cold air, the sensorial power of irritability is accumulated and 
they become stronger. 

Whence it may be deduced,, that the variations of the cold and 
heat of this climate contribute to strengthen its inhabitants, who are 
more active and vigorous, and live longer, than those of either much, 
warmer or much colder latitudes. 

This accumulation of sensorial power from diminution of stimulus 
any one may observe, who in severe weather may sit by the fire-side 
till he is chill and uneasy with the sensation of cold; but if he walks 
into the frosty air for a few minutes, an accumulation of sensorial 
power is produced by diminution of the stimulus of heat, and on his 
returning into the room where he Avas chill before, his whole skin 
will now glow with warmth. 

Hence it may be concluded, that the variations of the quantity of 
stimuli within certain limits contribute to our health; and that those 
houses which are kept too uniformly warm, are less wholesome than 
where the inhabitants are occasionally exposed to cold air in passing 
from one room to another. 

Nevertheless to those weak habits with pale skins and large pupils 
of the eyes, whose degree of irritability is less than health requires, 
as in scrofulous, hysterical, and some consumptive constitutions, a 
climate warmer than our own may be of service, as a greater stimulus 
of heat may be wanted to excite their less irritability. And also a 
more uniform quantity of heat may be serviceable to consumptive 
patients than is met with in this country, as the lungs cannot be 
clothed like the external skin, and are therefore subject to greater 
extremes of heat and cold in passing in winter from a warm room into 
the frosty air. 

4. It should nevertheless be observed, that there is one kind of 



30 Additional Notes. 

stimulus, which though it be employed in quantity beyond its usual 
state, seems to increase the production of sensorial power beyond the 
expenditure of it (unless its excess is great indeed) and thence to 
give permanent strength and energy to the system; I mean that of 
volition. This appears not only from the temporary strength of 
angry or insane people, but because insanity even cures some diseases 
of debility, as I have seen in dropsy, and in some fevers; but it is 
also observable, that many who have exerted much voluntary effort 
during their whole lives, have continued active to great age. This 
however may be conceived to arise from these great exertions being- 
performed principally by the organs of sense, that is by exciting and 
comparing ideas; as in those who have invented sciences, or have 
governed nations, and which did not therefore exhaust the sensorial 
power of those organs which are necessary to life, but perhaps rather 
prevented them from being sooner impaired, their sensorial power not 
having been so frequently exhausted by great activity, for very 
violent exercise of the body, long continued, forwards old age; as is 
seen in post-horses that are cruelly treated, and in many of the poor, 
who with difficulty support their families by incessant labour. 



III. Theory of the Approach of Age. 

The critical reader is perhaps by this time become so far interested 
in this subject as to excuse a more prolix elucidation of it. 

In early life the repetition of animal actions occasions them to be 
performed with greater facility, whether those repetitions are pro- 
duced by volition, sensation, or irritation; because they soon become 
associated together, if as much sensorial power is produced between 
every reiteration of action, as is expended by it. 

But if a stimulus be repeated at uniform intervals of time, the 
action, whether of our muscles or organs of sense, is performed with 
still greater facility and energy; because the sensorial power of asso- 
ciation mentioned above, is combined with the sensorial power of 
irritation, and forms part of the diurnal chain of animal motions; that 



Old Age and Death. 3 1 



is, in common language, the acquired habit assists the power of th« 
stimulus; see Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 2. and Sect. XII. 3. 3. 

On this circumstance depends the easy motions of the fingers in 
performing music, and of the feet and arms in dancing and fencing, 
and of the hands in the use of tools in mechanic arts, as well as all 
the vital motions which animate and nourish organic bodies. 

On the contrary, many animal motions by perpetual repetition are 
performed with less energy; as those who live near a waterfall, or a 
smith's forge, after a time, cease to hear them. And in those infec- 
tious diseases which are attended with fever, as the small-pox and 
measles, violent motions of the system are excited, which at length 
cease, and cannot again be produced by application of the same 
stimulating material; as Avhen those are inoculated for the small-pox, 
who have before undergone that malady. Hence the repetition, 
which occasions animal actions for a time to be performed with 
greater energy, occasions them at length to become feeble, or to 
cease entirely. 

To explain this difficult problem we must more minutely consider 
the catenations of animal motions, as described in Zoonomia, Vol. I. 
Sect. XVII. The vital motions, as suppose of the heart and arterial 
system, commence from the irritation occasioned by the stimulus of 
the blood, and then have this irritation assisted by the power of asso- 
ciation; at the same time an agreeable sensation is produced by the 
due actions of the fibres, as in the secretions of the glands, which 
constitutes the pleasure of existence; this agreeable sensation is inter- 
mixed between every link of this diurnal chain of actions, and contri- 
butes to produce it by what is termed animal causation. But there is 
also a degree of the power of volition excited in consequence of this 
vital pleasure, which is also intermixed between the links of the 
chain of fibrous actions; and thus also contributes to its uniform easy 
and perpetual production. 

The effects of surprise and novelty must now be considered bv the 
patient reader, as they affect the catenations of action; and, I hope, 
the curiosity of the subject will excuse the prolixity of this account 
of it. When any violent stimulus breaks the passing current or cate- 
nation of our ideas, surprise is produced, which is accompanied with 



S£ Additional Notes. 

;pain or pleasure, and consequent volition to examine the object of it, 
as explained in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XVIII. 17, and which never 
affects us in sleep. In our waking hours whenever an idea of imagi- 
nation occurs, which is incongruous to our former experience, we 
■feel another kind of surprise, and instantly dissever the train of ima- 
gination by the power of volition, and compare the incongruous idea 
with our previous knowledge of nature, and reject it by an actof rea- 
soning, of which we are unconscious, termed in Zoonomia, "Intuitive 
Analogy," Vol. I. Sect. XVII. ?. 

The novelty of any idea may be considered as affecting us with 
another kind of surprise, or incongruity, as it differs from the usual 
•train of our ideas, and forms a new link in this perpetual chain; 
which, as it thus differs from the ordinary course of nature, we 
instantly examine by the voluntary efforts of intuitive analogy; or by 
.reasoning, which Ave attend to.; and compare it with the usual appear- 
ances of .nature. 

These ideas which affect us with surprise, or incongruity, or 
novelty, are attended with painful or pleasurable sensation; which 
we mentioned before as intermixing with all catenations of animal 
actions, and contributing to strengthen their perpetual and energetic 
production; and also exciting in some degree the power of volition, 
which also intermixes with the links of the chain of animal actions, 
and contributes to produce it. 

Now by frequent repetition the surprise, incongruity, or novelty 
ceases; and, in consequence, the pleasure or pain which accompanied 
it, and also the degree of volition which was excited by that sensation 
of pain or pleasure; and thus the sensorial power of sensation and of 
volition are subducted from the catenation of vital actions, and they 
are in consequence produced much weaker, and at length cease 
entirely. Whence we learn why contagious matters induce their 
e'ffects on the circulation but once; and why, in process of time, the 
vital movements are performed with less energy, and at length cease; 
whence the debilities of age, and consequent death. 



33 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. VIII. 
REPRODUCTION. 

But Reproduction with ethereal fires 

New life rekindles, ere the first expires. Canto II. 1. 13. 

I. The reproduction or generation of living organized bodies, is 
the great criterion or characteristic which distinguishes animation 
from mechanism. Fluids may circulate in hydraulic machines, or 
simply move in them, as mercury in the barometer or thermometer, 
but the power of producing an embryon which shall gradually acquire 
similitude to its parent, distinguishes artificial from natural organiza- 
tion. 

The reproduction of plants and animals appears to be of two kinds, 
solitary and sexual; the former occurs in the formation of the buds 
of trees, and the bulbs of tulips; which for several successions gene- 
rate other buds, and other bulbs, nearly similar to the parent, but 
constantly approaching to greater perfection, so as finally to produce 
sexual organs, or flowers, and consequent seeds. 

The same occurs in some inferior kinds of animals; as the aphises 
in the spring and summer are viviparous for eight or nine generations, 
which successively produce living descendants without sexual inter- 
course, and are themselves, I suppose, without sex; at length in the 
autumn they propagate males and females, which copulate and lay 
eggs, which lie dormant during the winter, and are hatched by the 
vernal sun; while the truffle, and perhaps mushrooms amongst vege- 
tables, and the polypus and taenia amongst insects, perpetually propa- 
gate themselves by solitary reproduction, and have not yet acquired 
male and female organs. 

Philosophers have thought these viviparous aphides, and the taenia, 
and volvox, to be females; and have supposed them to have been im- 
pregnated long before their nativity within each other; so the taenia 
and volvox still continue to produce their offspring without sexual 

F 



34 Additional Notes. 

intercourse. One extremity of the tasnia, is said by Linneus to grow 
old, whilst at the other end new ones are generated proceeding to 
infinity like the roots of grass. The volvox globator is transparent, 
and carries within itself children and grandchildren to the fifth 
generation like the aphides ; so that the taenia produces children and 
grandchildren longitudinally in a chain-like series, and the volvox 
propagates an offspring included within itself to the fifth generation; 
Syst. Nat. 

Many microscopic animals, and some larger ones, as the hydra or 
polypus, are propagated by splitting or dividing; and some still 
larger animals, as oysters, and perhaps eels, have not yet acquired 
sexual organs, but produce a paternal progeny, which requires no 
mother to supply it with a nidus, or with nutriment and oxygenation; 
and, therefore, very accurately resemble the production of the buds 
of trees, and the Avires of some herbaceous plants, as of knot-grass 
and of strawberries, and the bulbs of other plants, as of onions and 
potatoes; which is further treated of in Phytologia, Sect. VII. 

The manner in which I suspect the solitary reproduction of the buds 
of trees to be effected, may also be applied to the solitary generation 
of the insects mentioned above, and probably of many others, perhaps 
of all the microscopic ones. It should be previously observed, that 
many insects are hermaphrodite, possessing both male and female 
organs of reproduction, as shell-snails and dew-worms; but that these 
are seen reciprocally to copulate with each other, and are believed not 
to be able to impregnate themselves; which belongs, therefore, to 
sexual generation, and not to the solitary reproduction of which I am 
noAv speaking. 

As in the chemical production of any new combination of matter, 
two kinds of particles appear to be necessary; one of which must 
possess the power of attraction,- and the other the aptitude to be 
attracted, as a magnet and a piece of iron; so in vegetable or animal 
combinations, whether for the purpose of nutrition or for reproduc- 
tion, there must exist also two kinds of organic matter; one possessing 
the appetency to unite, and the other the propensity to be united; 
(see Zoonomia, octavo edition, Sect. XXXIX. 8.) Hence in the 
generation of the buds of trees, there are probably two kinds of 



Reproduction. 35 

glands, which acquire from the vegetable blood, and deposite beneath 
the cuticle of the tree two kinds of formative organic matter, which 
unite and form parts of the new vegetable embryon; which again 
uniting with other such organizations form the caudex, or the plu- 
mula, or the radicle, of a new vegetable bud. 

A similar mode of reproduction by the secretion of two kinds of 
organic particles from the blood, and by depositing them cither inter- 
nally as in the vernal and summer aphis or volvox, or externally as in 
the polypus and taenia, probably obtains in those animals ; which are 
thence propagated by the father only, not requiring a cradle, or nutri- 
ment, or oxygenation from a mother; and that the five generations, 
said to be seen in the transparent volvox globator within each other, 
are perhaps the successive progeny to be delivered at different 
periods of time from the father, and erroneously supposed to be 
mothers impregnated before their nativity. 

II. Sexual as well as solitary reproduction appears to be effected 
by two kinds of glands; one of which collects or secretes from the 
blood formative organic particles with appetencies to unite, and the 
other formative organic particles with propensities to be united. 
These probably undergo some change by a kind of digestion in their 
respective glands; but could not otherwise unite previously in the 
mass of blood from its perpetual motion. 

The first mode of sexual reproduction seems to have been by the 
formation of males into hermaphrodites; that is, when the numerous 
formative glands, which existed in the caudex of the bud of a tree, 
or on the surface of a polypus, became so united as to form but two 
glands; which might then be called male and female organs. But 
they still collect and secrete their adapted particles from the same 
mass of blood as in snails and dew-worms, but do not seem to be so 
placed as to produce an embryon by the mixture of their secreted 
fluids, but to require the mutual assistance of two hermaphrodites for 
that purpose. 

From this view of the subject, it would appear that vegetables and 
animals were at first propagated by solitary generation, and afterwards 
by hermaphrodite sexual generation; because most vegetables possess 
at this day both male and female organs in the same fiWer, which 



36 ■ Additional Notes. 

Linneus has thence well called hermaphrodite flowers ; and that this 
hermaphrodite mode of reproduction still exists in many insects, as 
in snails and worms ; and, finally, because all the male quadrupeds, as 
well as men, possess at this day some remains of the female apparatus, 
as the breasts with nipples, which still at their nativity are said to 
be replete with a kind of milk, and the nipples swell on titillation. 

Afterwards the sexes seem to have been formed in vegetables as in 
flowers, in addition to the power of solitary reproduction by buds. 
So in animals the aphis is propagated both by solitary reproduction as 
in spring, or by sexual generation as in autumn; then the vegetable 
sexes began to exist in separate plants, as in the classes monoecia and 
dicecia, or both of them in the same plant also, as in the class poly- 
gamia; but the larger and more perfect animals are now propagated 
by sexual reproduction only, which seems to have been the chef- 
d'oeuvre, or capital work of nature ; as appears by the wonderful trans- 
formations of leaf-eating caterpillars into honey-eating moths and 
butterflies, apparently for the sole purpose of the formation of sexual 
organs, as in the silk-worm, which takes no food after its transforma- 
tion, but propagates its species and dies. 



III. Recapitulation. 

The microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality, and the next 
most inferior kinds of vegetables and animals, propagate by solitary 
generation only; as the buds and bulbs raised immediately from seeds, 
the lycoperdon tuber, with probably many other fungi, and the poly- 
pus, volvox, and taenia. Those of the next order propagate both by 
solitary and sexual reproduction, as those buds and bulbs which pro- 
duce flowers as well as other buds or bulbs ; and the aphis, and probably 
many other insects. Whence it appears, that many of those vege- 
tables and animals, which are produced by solitary generation, gra- 
dually become more perfect, and at length produce a sexual progeny. 

A third order of organic nature consists of hermaphrodite vege- 
tables and animals, as in those flowers which have anthers and stigmas 
in the same corol ; and in many insects, as leeches, snails, and worms; 



Reproduction. 37 

and perhaps all those reptiles which have no bones, according to the 
observation of M. Poupart, who thinks, that the number of hermaph- 
rodite animals exceeds that of those which are divided into sexes; 
M£m. del'Acad. des Sciences. These hermaphrodite insects I suspect 
to be incapable of impregnating themselves for reasons mentioned 
in Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIX. 6. 2. 

And, lastly, the most perfect orders of animals are propagated by 
sexual intercourse only; which, however, does not extend to vegeta- 
bles, as all those raised from seed produce some generations of buds or 
bulbs, previous to their producing flowers, as occurs not only in trees, 
but also in the annual plants. Thus three or four joints of wheat grow 
upon each other, before that Avhich produces a flower; which joints 
are all separate plants growing over each other, like the buds of trees, 
previous to the uppermost; though this happens in a few months in 
annual plants, which requires as many years in the successive buds of 
trees; as is further explained in Phytologia, Sect. IX. 3. 1. 



IV. Conclusion. 

Where climate is favourable, and salubrious food plentiful, there is 
reason to believe, that the races of animals perpetually improve by 
reproduction. The smallest microscopic animals become larger ones 
in a short time, probably by successive reproductions, as is so distinctly 
seen in the buds of seedling apple-trees, and in the bulbs of tulips 
raised from seed; both which die annually,, and leave behind them 
one or many, which are more perfect than themselves, till they pro- 
duce a sexual progeny, or flowers. To which may be added, the rapid 
improvement of our domesticated dogs, horses, rabbits, pigeons, which 
improve in size, or in swiftness, or in the sagacity of the sense of 
smell, or in colour, or other properties, by sexual reproduction. 

The great Linneus having perceived the changes produced in the 
vegetable world by sexual reproduction, has supposed that not more 
than about sixty plants were at first created, and that all the others 
have been formed by their solitary or sexual reproductions; and adds, 
Suadent haec Creatoris leges a simplicibus ad composita; Gen. Plant. 



3$ Additional Notes: 

preface to the natural orders, and Amenit Acad. VI. 279- This mode 
of reasoning may be extended to the most simple productions of spon- 
taneous vitality. 

There is one curious circumstance of animal life analogous in some 
degree to this wonderful power of reproduction; which is seen in the 
propagation of some contagious diseases. Thus one grain of vario- 
lous matter, inserted by inoculation, shall in about seven days stimu- 
late the system into unnatural action; which in about seven days 
more produces ten thousand times the quantity of a similar material 
thrown out on the skin in pustules ! 

The mystery of reproduction, which alone distinguishes organic 
life from mechanic or chemic action, is yet wrapt in darkness. Dur- 
ing the decomposition of organic bodies, where there exists a due 
degree of warmth with moisture, new microscopic animals of the most 
minute kind are produced; and these possess the wonderful power of 
reproduction, or of producing animals similar to themselves in their 
general structure, but with frequent additional improvements; which 
the preceding parent might in some measure have acquired by his 
habits of life or accidental situation. 

But it may appear too bold in the present state of our knowledge 
on this subject, to suppose that all vegetables and animals now existing 
were originally derived from the smallest microscopic ones, formed by 
spontaneous vitality? and that they have by innumerable reproduc- 
tions, during innumerable centuries of time, gradually acquired the 
size, strength, and excellence of form and faculties, which they now 
possess? and that such amazing powers were originally impressed on 
matter and spirit by the great Parent of Parents! Cause of Causes! 
Ens Entium ! 



39 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. IX. 
STORGE. 

And Heaven-born Storge weaves the social chain. Canto II. 1. 92. 

The Greek word Storge is used for the affection of parents to 
children; which was also visibly represented by the Stork or Pelican 
feeding her young with blood taken from her own wounded bosom. 
A number of Pelicans form a semicircle in shallow parts of the sea 
near the coast, standing on their long legs; and thus including a shoal 
of small fish, they gradually approach the shore ; and seizing the fish 
as they advance, receive them into a pouch under their throats ; and 
bringing them to land regurgitate them for the use of their young, 
or for their future support. Aclanson, Voyage to Senegal. In this 
country the parent Pigeons both male and female swallow the grain or 
other seeds, which they collect for their young, and bring it up mixed 
with a kind of milk from their stomachs, with their bills inserted into 
the mouths of the young doves. J. Hunter's works. 

The affection of the parent to the young in experienced mothers 
may be in part owing to their having been relieved by them from the 
burden of their milk; but it is difficult to understand, how this affec- 
tion commences in those mothers of the bestial world, who have not 
experienced this relief from the sucking of their offspring; and still 
more so to understand how female birds were at first induced to incu- 
bate their eggs for many weeks; and lastly how caterpillars, as of the 
silk-worm, are induced to cover themselves with a well-woven house 
of silk before their transformation. 

These as well as many other animal facts, which are difficult to 
account for, have been referred to an inexplicable instinct; which is 
supposed to preclude any further investigation: but as animals seem 
to have undergone great changes, as well as the inanimate parts of the 
earth, and are probably still in a state of gradual improvement; it is 
not unreasonable to conclude, that some of these actions both of large 



40 Additional Notes. , 

animals and of insects, may have been acquired in a state preceding 
their present one ; and have been derived from the parents to their 
offspring by imitation, or other kind of tradition; thus the eggs of the 
crocodile are at this day hatched by the warmth of the sun in Egypt ; 
and the eggs of innumerable insects, and the spawn of fish, and of 
frogs, in this climate are hatched by the vernal warmth : this might 
be the case of birds in warm climates, in their early state of existence ; 
and experience might have taught them to incubate their eggs, as 
they became more perfect animals, or removed themselves into colder 
climates : thus the ostrich is said to sit upon its eggs only in the night 
in warm situations, and both day and night in colder ones. 

This love of the mother in quadrupeds to the offspring, whom she 
licks and cleans, is so allied to the pleasure of the taste or palate, that 
nature seems to have had a great escape in the parent quadruped not 
devouring her offspring. Bitches,and cats, and sows, eat the placenta; 
and if a dead offspring occurs, I am told, that also is sometimes eaten, 
and yet the living offspring is spared; and by that nice distinction 
the progenies of those animals are saved from destruction ! 

V Certior factus sum a viro rebus antiquissimis docto, quod legitur 
"in Berosi operibus homines ante diluvium mulierum puerperarumpla- 
" centam edidisse, quasi cibum delicatum in epulis luxuriosis; et quod 
" hoc nefandissimo crimine movebatur Deus diluvio submergere ter- 
" rarum incolas." Anon. 

It may be finally concluded, that this affection from the parent 
to the progeny existed before animals were divided into sexes, and 
produced the beginning of sympathetic society, the source of which 
may perhaps be thus well accounted for; whenever the glandular 
system is stimulated into greater natural action within certain limits, 
an addition of pleasure is produced along with the increased secretion; 
this pleasure arising from the activity of the system is supposed to 
constitute the happiness of existence, in contradistinction to the ennui 
or tsedium vita;; as shown in Zoonomia, Sect. XXXIII. L 

Hence the secretion of nutritious juices occasioned by the stimulus 
of an embryon or egg in the womb gives pleasure to the parent for a 
length of time; whence by association a similar pleasure may be oc- 
casioned to the parent by seeing and touching the egg or fetus after 



Storge. 4 ] 

its birth; and in lactescent animals an additional pleasure is produced 
by the new secretion of milk, as well as by its emission into the suck- 
ing lips of the infant. This appears to be one of the great secrets of 
Nature, one of those fine, almost invisible cords, which have bound 
one animal to another. 

The females of lactiferous animals have thus a passion or inlet of 
pleasure in their systems more than the males, from their power of 
giving suck to their offspring; the want of the object of this passion, 
either owing to the death of the progeny, or to the unnatural fashion 
of their situation in life, not only deprives them of this innocent and 
virtuous source of pleasure; but has occasioned diseases, which have 
been fatal to many of them. 



42 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. X. 
EVE FROM ADAM'S RIB. 

Form'd a new sex, the mother of mankind. Canto. II. 1. 140. 

The mosaic history of Paradise and of Adam and Eve has been 
thought by some to be a sacred allegory, designed to teach obedience 
to divine commands, and to account for the origin of evil, like 
Jotham's fable of the trees ; Judges ix. 8. or Nathan's fable of the 
poor man and his lamb ; 2 Sam. xii. 1 . or like the parables in the New 
Testament; as otherwise knowledge could not be said to grow upon 
one tree, and life upon another, or a serpent to converse ; and lastly 
that this account originated with the magi or philosophers of Egypt, 
with whom Moses was educated, and that this part of the history, where 
Eve is said to have been made from a rib of Adam might have been an 
hieroglyphic design of the Egyptian philosophers, showing their opinion 
that Mankind was originally of both sexes united, and was afterwards 
divided into males and females: an opinion in later times held by 
Plato, and I believe by Aristotle, and which must have arisen from 
profound inquiries into the original state of animal existence. 



43 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. XL 

HEREDITARY DISEASES. 

The feeble births acquired diseases chase, 

Till Death extinguish the degenerate race. Canto II. 1. l65. 

As all the families both of plants and animals appear in a state 
of perpetual improvement or degeneracy, it becomes a subject of im- 
portance to detect the causes of these mutations. 

The insects, which are not propagated by sexual intercourse, are 
so few or so small, that no observations have been made on their 
diseases ; but hereditary diseases are believed more to affect the 
offspring of solitary than of sexual generation in respect to vegetables; 
as those fruit trees, which have for more than a century been propa- 
gated only by ingrafting, and not from seeds, have been observed by 
Mr. Knight to be at this time so liable to canker, as not to be worth 
cultivation. From the same cause I suspect the degeneracy of some 
potatoes and of some strawberries to have arisen; where the curled 
leaf has appeared in the former, and barren flowers in the latter. 

This may arise from the progeny by solitary reproduction so much 
more exactly resembling the parent, as is well seen in grafted trees 
compared with seedling ones; the fruit of the former always resembling 
that of the parent tree, but not so of the latter. The grafted scion 
also accords with the branch of the tree from whence it was taken, in 
the time of its bearing fruit; for if a scion be taken from a bearing- 
branch of a pear or apple tree, I believe, it will produce fruit even 
the next year, or that succeeding; that is, in the same time that it 
would have produced fruit, if it had continued growing on the parent 
tree; but if the parent pear or apple tree has been cut down or headed, 
and scions are then taken from the young shoots of the stem, and in- 
grafted; I believe those grafted trees will continue to grow tor ten or 
twelve years, before they bear fruit, almost as long as seedling trees, 



44 • Additional Notes. 

that is they will require as much time, as those new shoots from the 
lopped trunk would require, befoye they produce fruit. It should 
thence be inquired, when grafted fruit trees are purchased, whether 
the scions were taken from bearing branches, or from the young 
shoots of a lopped trunk; as the latter, I believe, are generally sold, 
as they appear stronger plants. This greater similitude of the pro- 
geny to the parent in solitary reproduction must certainly make them 
more liable to hereditary diseases, if such have been acquired by the 
parent from unfriendly climate or bad nourishment, or accidental 
injury. 

In respect to the sexual progeny of vegetables it has long been 
thought, that a change of seed or of situation is in process of time ne- 
cessary to prevent their degeneracy; but it is now believed, that it is 
only changing for seed of a superior quality, that will better the 
product. At the same time it may be probably useful occasionally to 
intermix seeds from different situations together ; as the anther-dust 
is liable to pass from one plant to another in its vicinity; and by 
these means the new seeds or plants may be amended, like the mar- 
riages of animals into different families. 

As the sexual progeny of vegetables are thus less liable to heredi- 
tary diseases than the solitary progenies; so it is reasonable to con- 
clude, that the sexual progenies of animals may be less liable to here- 
ditary diseases, if the marriages are into different families, than if into 
the same family ; this has long been supposed to be true, by those 
who breed animals for sale; since if the male and female be of different 
temperaments, as these are extremes of the animal system, they may 
counteract each other; and certainly where both parents are of fami- 
lies, which are afflicted with the same hereditary disease, it is more 
likely to descend to their posterity. 

The hereditary diseases of this country have many of them been 
the consequence of drinking much fermented or spirituous liquor; as 
the gout always, most kinds of dropsy, and, I believe, epilepsy, and 
insanity. But another material, which is liable to produce diseases in 
its immoderate use, I believe to be common salt; the sea-scurvy is 
evidently caused by it in long voyages; and I suspect the scrofula, 
and consumption, to arise in the young progeny from the debility of 



Hereditary Diseases. 45 

the lymphatic and venous absorption produced in the parent by this 
innutritious fossile stimulus. The petechias and vibices in the sea- 
scurvy and occasional haemorrhages evince the defect of venous ab- 
sorption; the occasional hasmoptoe at the commencement of pulmo- 
nary consumption, seems also to arise from defect of venous absorp- 
tion ; and the scrofula, which arises from the inactivity of the lym- 
phatic absorbent system, frequently exists along with pulmonary as 
Amelias with mesenteric consumption. A tendency to these diseases is 
certainly hereditary, though perhaps not the diseases themselves ; thus 
a less quantity of ale, cyder, wine, or spirit, will induce the gout and 
dropsy in those constitutions, whose parents have been intemperate 
in the use of those liquors; as I have more than once had occasion to 
observe." 

Finally the art to improve the sexual progeny of either vegetables 
or animals must consist in choosing the most perfect of both sexes, that 
is the most beautiful in respect to the body, and the most ingenious 
in respect to the mind; but where one sex is given, whether male or 
female, to improve a progeny from that person may consist in choosing 
a partner of a contrary temperament. 

As many families become gradually extinct by hereditary diseases, 
as by scrofula, consumption, epilepsy, mania, it is often hazardous 
to marry an heiress, as she is not unfrequently the last of a diseased 
family. 



46 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. XII. 



CHEMICAL THEORY OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. 



Then mark how two electric streams conspire 

To form the resinous and vitreous fire. Canto III. 1. 21. 



I. Of Attraction and Repulsion. 

The motions, which accomplish the combinations and decomposi- 
tions of bodies, depend on the peculiar attractions and repulsions of 
the particles of those bodies, or of the sides and angles of them ; while 
the motions of the sun and planets, of the air and ocean, and of all 
bodies approaching to a general centre or retreating from it, depend 
on the general attraction or repulsion of those masses of matter. The 
peculiar attractions above mentioned are termed chemical affinities, 
and the general attraction is termed gravitation; but the peculiar re- 
pulsions of the particles of bodies, or the general repulsion of the 
masses of matter, have obtained no specific names, nor have been suf- 
ficiently considered; though they appear to be as powerful agents as 
the attractions. 

The motions of ethereal fluids, as of magnetism and electricity, 
are yet imperfectly understood, and seem to depend both on chemical 
affinity, and on gravitation ; and also on the peculiar repulsions of the 
particles of bodies, and on the general repulsion of the masses of 
matter. 

In what manner attraction and repulsion are produced has not yet 
been attempted to be explained by modern philosophers; but as 
nothing can act, where it does not exist, all distant attraction of the 
particles of bodies, as well as general gravitation, must be ascribed to 
some still finer ethereal fluid; which fills up all space between the suns 
and their planets, as well as the interstices of coherent matter. Re- 
pulsion in the same manner must consist of some finer ethereal fluid ; 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 47 

Avhich at first projected the planets from the sun, and I suppose pre- 
vents their return to it; and which occasionally volatilizes or decom- 
poses solid bodies into fluid or aerial ones, and perhaps into ethereal 
ones. 

May not the ethereal matter which constitutes repulsion, be the 
same as the matter of heat in its diffused state; which in its quiescent 
state is combined with various bodies, as appears from many chemical 
explosions, in which so much heat is set at liberty? The ethereal 
matter, which constitutes attraction, we are less acquainted with; but 
it may also exist combined with bodies, as well as in its diffused state ; 
since the specific gravities of some metallic mixtures are said not to 
accord with what ought to result from the combination of their specific 
gravities, which existed before their mixture; but their absolute gra- 
vities have not been attended to sufficiently; as these have always been 
supposed to depend on their quantity of matter, and situation in re- 
spect to the centre of the earth. 

The ethereal fluids, which constitute peculiar repulsions and attrac- 
tions, appear to gravitate round the particles of bodies mixed together; 
as those, which constitute the general repulsion or attraction, appear 
to gravitate round the greater masses of matter mixed together; but 
that which constitutes attraction seems to exist in a denser state next 
to the particles or masses of matter; and that which constitutes repul- 
sion to exist more powerfully in a sphere further from them; whence 
many bodies attract at one distance, and repel at another. This mar 
be observed by approaching to each other two electric atmospheres 
round insulated cork-balls; or by pressing globules of mercury, which 
roll on the surface, till they unite with it; or by pressing the drops of 
water, which stand on a cabbage leaf, till they unite with it, and 
hence light is reflected from the surface of a mirror without touch- 
ing it. 

Thus the peculiar attractions and repulsions of the particles of 
bodies, and the general ones of the masses of matter, perpetually 
oppose and counteract each other; whence if the power of attraction 
should cease to act, all matter would be dissipated by the power of 
repulsion into boundless space; and if heat, or the power of repulsion, 
should cease to act, the whole world would become one solid mass, 
condensed into a point. 



48 Additional Notes. 



II. Preliminary Propositions. 

The following propositions concerning Electricity and Galvanism 
will either be proved by direct experiments, or will be rendered pro- 
bable by their tending to explain or connect the variety of electric 
facts, to Avhich they will be applied. 

1. There are two kinds of electric ether, which exist either sepa- 
rately or in combination. That which is accumulated on^ the surface 
of smooth glass, when it is rubbed with a cushion, is here termed 
vitreous ether; and that which is accumulated on the surface of resin 
or sealing-wax, when it is rubbed with a cushion, is here termed 
resinous ether; and a combination of them, as in their usual state, 
may be termed neutral electric ethers. 

2. Atmospheres of vitreous or of resinous or of neutral electricity 
surround all separate bodies, are attracted by them, and permeate 
those, which are called conductors, as metallic and aqueous and car- 
bonic ones; but will not permeate those, which are termed noncon- 
ductors, as air, glass, silk, resin, sulphur. 

3. The particles of vitreous electric ether strongly repel each other 
as they surround other bodies; but strongly attract the particles of 
resinous electric ether : in similar manner the particles of the resinous 
ether powerfully repel each other, and as powerfully attract those of 
the vitreous ether. Hence in their separate state they appear to occupy 
much greater space, as they gravitate round insulated bodies, and are 
then only cognizable by our senses or experiments. They rush violently 
together through conducting substances, and then probably possess 
much less space in this their combined state. They thus resemble 
oxygen gas and nitrous gas; which rush violently together when in 
.contact ; and occupy less space when united, than either of them pos- 
sessed separately before their union. When the two electric ethers 
thus unite, a chemical' explosion occurs, like an ignited train of gun- 
powder; as they give out light and heat; and rend or fuse the bodies 
they occupy; which cannot be accounted for on the mechanical theory 
of Dr. Franklin. 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 49 

4. Glass holds within it in combination much resinous electric 
ether, which constitutes a part of it, and which more forcibly attracts 
vitreous electric ether from surrounding bodies, which stands on it 
mixed with a less proportion of resinous ether like an atmosphere, 
but cannot unite with the resinous ether, which is combined with 
the glass; and resin, on the contrary, holds within it in combination 
much vitreous electric ether, which constitutes a part of it, and 
which more forcibly attracts resinous electric ether from surrround- 
ing bodies, which stands on it mixed with a less proportion of vitreous 
ether like an atmosphere, but cannot unite with the vitreous ether, 
which is combined with the resin. 

As in the production of vitrification, those materials are necessary 
which contain much oxygen, as minium, and manganese; there is 
probably much oxygen combined with glass, which may thence be 
esteemed a solid acid, as water may be esteemed a fluid one. It is 
hence not improbable, that one kind of electric ether may also be 
combined with it, as it seems to affect the oxygen of water in the 
Galvanic experiments. The combination of the other kind of electric 
ether with wax or sulphur, is countenanced from those bodies, when 
heated or melted, being said to part with much electricity as they cool, 
and as it appears to affect the hydrogen in the decomposition of water 
by Galvanism. 

5. Hence the nonconductors of electricity are of two kinds; such 
as are combined with vitreous ether, as resin, and sulphur; and such as 
are combined with resinous ether, as glass, air, silk. But both these 
kinds of nonconductors are impervious to either of the electric 
ethers; as those ethers being already combined with other bodies 
will not unite with each other, or be removed from their situations 
by each other. Whereas the perfect conducting bodies, as metals 
water, charcoal, though surrounded with electric atmospheres, as they 
have neither of the electric ethers combined with them, suffer them 
to permeate and pass through them, whether separately or in their 
neutral state of reciprocal combination. 

But it is probable, that imperfect conductors may possess more or 
less of either the vitreous or resinous ether combined with them, 

H 



50 Additional, Notes.. 

since their natural: atmospheres are dissimilar as mentioned below r 
and that this makes them more or less imperfect conductors. 

6. Those bodies which are perfect conductors, have probably 
neutral- electric atmospheres gravitating- round them consisting of an 
equal or saturated mixture of the two electric ethers, whereas the 
atmospheres round the nonconducting bodies probably consist of an 
unequal mixture of the electric ethers, as more of the vitreous one 
round glass, and more of the resinous one round resin; and, it is pro- 
bable, that these mixed atmospheres, which surround imperfect con- 
ducting bodies, consist also of different proportions of the vitreous and 
resinous ethers, according to their being more or less perfect con- 
ductors. These minute degrees of the difference of these electric 
atmospheres are evinced by Mr. Bennet's Doubler of Electricity, as 
shown in his work, and are termed by him Adhesive Electric Atmo- 
spheres^ to distinguish them from those accumulated by art; thus the 
natural adhesive electricity of silver is more of the vitreous kind 
compared with, that of zinc, which consists of a greater proportion of 
the resinous; that is, in his language, silver is positive and zinc 
negative. This experiment I have successfully repeated with Mr. 
Bennet's Doubler along with Mr. Swanwick.. 

7. Great accumulation or condensation of the separate electric 
ethers attract each other so strongly, that they will break a passage 
through nonconducting bodies, as through a plate of glass, or of air, 
and will rend bodies which are less perfect conductors, and give out 
light and heat like the explosion of a train of gunpowder; whence, 
when a strong electric shock is passed through a quire of paper, a 
bur, or elevation of the sheets, is seen on both sides of it occasioned 
by the explosion. Whence trees and stone walls are burst by light- 
ning, and wires are fused, and inflammable bodies, burnt, by the heat 
given out along with the flash, of light, which cannot be explained by 
the mechanic theory. 

8. When artificial or natural accumulations of these separate ethers 
are very minute in quantity or intensity, they pass slowly and with 
difficulty from one body to another, and require the best conductors 
for this purpose; whence many of the phenomena of the torpedo or 
gymnotus, and of Galvanism. Thus after having discharged a coated 



CItemicai Theory <of Electricity and Magnetism. 

jar, if the communicating wire has been quickly withdrawn, a second 
small shock may be taken after the principal discharge, and this 
repeatedly two or three times. 

Hence the charge of the Galvanic pile being very minute in quan- 
tity or intensity, will not readily pass through the dry cuticle of the 
hands, though it so easily passes through animal flesh or nerves, as 
this combination of charcoal with water seems to constitute the most 
perfect conductor yet known. 

9. As light is reflected from the surface of a mirror before it 
actually touches it, and as drops of water are repelled from cabbage 
leaves without touching them, and as oil lies on water without touch- 
ing it, and also as a fine needle may be made to lie on water without 
touching it, as shown by Mr. Melville in the Literary Essays of Edin- 
burgh; there is reason to believe, that the vitreous and resinous 
electric ethers are repelled by, or will not pass through, the surfaces 
of glass or resin, to which they are applied. But though neither 
of these electric ethers passes through the surfaces of glass or resin, 
yet their attractive or repulsive powers pass through them; as the 
attractive or repulsive power of the magnet to iron passes through 
the atmosphere, and all other bodies which exist between them. So 
an insulated cork-ball, when electrised either with vitreous or resinous 
ether, repels another insulated cork-ball electrised with the same 
kind of ether, through half an inch of common air, though these 
electric atmospheres do not unite. 

Whence it may be concluded, that the general attractive and 
repulsive ethers accompany the electric ethers as well as they accom- 
pany all other bodies; and that the electric ethers do not themselves 
attract or repel through glass or resin, as they cannot pass through 
them, but strongly attract each other when they come into contact, 
rush together, and produce an explosion of the sudden liberation of 
heat and light. 



III. Effect of Metallic Points. 

1. When a pointed wire is presented by a person standing on the 
ground to an insulated conductor, on which either vitreous or resinous 



52 Additional Notes. 

electricity is accumulated, the accumulated electricity will pass off at 
a much greater distance than if a metallic knob be fixed on the wire 
and presented in its stead. 

2. The same occurs if the metallic point be fixed on the electrised 
conductor, and the finger of a person standing on the ground be pre- 
sented to it, the accumulated electricity will pass off at a much greater 
distance, and indeed will soon discharge itself by communicating the 
accumulated electricity to the atmosphere. 

3. If a metallic point be fixed on the prime conductor, and the 
flame of a candle be presented to it, on electrising the conductor either 
with vitreous or resinous ether, the flame of the candle is blown from 
the point, which must be owing to the electric fluid in its passage 
from the point carrying along with it a stream of atmospheric air. 

The manner in which the accumulated electricity so readily passes 
off by a metallic point may be thus understood; when a metallic point 
stands erect from an electrised metallic plane, the accumulated elec- 
tricity which exists on the extremity of the point, is attracted less 
than that on the other parts of the electrised surface. For the particle 
of electric matter immediately over the point is attracted by that 
point only, whereas the particles of electric matter over every other 
part of the electrised plane, is not only attracted by the parts of the 
plane immediately under them, but also laterally by the circumjacent 
parts of it; whence the accumulated electric fluid is pushed off at this 
point by that over the other parts being more strongly attracted to 
the plane. 

Thus if a light insulated horizontal fly be constructed of wire with 
points fixed as tangents to the circle, it will revolve the way contrary 
to the direction of the points as long as it continues to be electrised. 
For the same reason as when a circle of cork, with a point of the cork 
standing from it like a tangent, is smeared with oil, and thrown upon 
a lake, it will continue to revolve backwards in respect to the direc- 
tion of the point till all the oil is dispersed upon the lake, as first 
observed by Dr. Franklin; for the oil being attracted to all the other 
parts of the cork-circle more than towards the pointed tangent, that 
part over the point is pushed off and diffuses itself on the water, over 
which it passes without touching, and consequently without friction; 
and thus the cork revolves in the contrary direction. 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 53 

As the flame of a candle is blown from a point fixed on an elec- 
trised conductor, whether vitreous or resinous electricity is accumu- 
lated on it, it shows that in both cases electricity passes from the 
point, which is a forcible argument against the mechanical theory of 
positive and negative electricity; because then the flame should be 
blown towards the point in one case, and from it in the other. 

So the electric fly, as it turns horizontal^', recedes from the direc- 
tion of the points of the tangents, whether it be electrised with 
vitreous or resinous electricity; whereas if it was supposed to receive 
electricity, when electrised by resin, and to part with it when elec- 
trised by glass, it ought to revolve different ways; which also forci- 
ably opposes the theory of positive and negative electricity. 

As an electrised point with either kind of electricity causes a stream 
of air to pass from it in the direction of the point, it seems to affect 
the air much in the same manner as the fluid matter of heat affects 
it; that is, it will not readily pass through it, but will adhere to the 
particles of air, and is thus carried away with them. 

From this it will also appear, that points do not attract electricity, 
properly speaking, but suffer it to depart from them; as it is there 
less attracted to the body which it surrounds, than by any other 
part of the surface. 

And as a point presented to an electrised conductor facilitates the 
discharge of it, and blows the flame of a candle towards the conductor, 
whether vitreous or resinous electricity be accumulated upon it; it 
follows, that in both cases some electric matter passes from the point 
to the conductor, and that hence there are tM r o electric ethers; and 
that they combine or explode when they meet together, and give out 
light and heat, and occupy less space in this their combined state, 
like the union of nitrous gas with oxygen gas. 



IV. Accumulation of Electric Ethers by Contact. 

The electric ethers may be separately accumulated by contact of 
conductors with nonconductors, by vicinity of the two ethers, by 
heat, and by decomposition. 



£4 Additional Notes. 

Glass is believed to consist in part of consolidated resinous ether, 
-and thence to attract an electric atmosphere round it, which consist* 
of a greater proportion of vitreous ether compared to the quantity of 
the resinous, as mentioned in Proposition No. 4. This atmosphere 
may stand off a line from the surface of the glass, though its attrac- 
tive or repulsive power may extend to a much greater distance; and 
a more equally mixed electric atmosphere may stand off about the 
same distance from the surface of a cushion. 

Now when a cushion is forcibly pressed upon the surface of a glass 
cylinder or plane, the atmosphere of the cushion is forced within 
that of the glass, and consequently the vitreous part of it is brought 
within the sphere of the attraction of the resinous ether combined 
with the glass, and therefore becomes attracted by it in addition to 
the vitreous part of the spontaneous atmosphere of the glass; and the 
resinous part of the atmosphere of the cushion is at the same time 
repelled by its vicinity to the combined resinous ether of the glass. 
From both which circumstances a vitreous ether alone surrounds the 
part of the glass on which the cushion is forcibly pressed; which does 
not, nevertheless, resemble an electrised coated jar; as this accumula- 
tion of vitreous ether on one side of the glass is not so violently con- 
densed, or so forcibly attracted to the glass by the loose resinous ether 
on the other side of it, as occurs in the charged coated jar. 

Hence as weak differences of the kinds or quantities of electricity 
do not very rapidly change place, if the cushion be suddenly with- 
drawn, with or without friction, I suppose an accumulation of vitreous 
electric ether will be left on the surface of the glass, which will diffuse 
itself on an insulated conductor by the assistance of points, or will 
gradually be dissipated in the air, probably like odours by the repul- 
sion of its own particles, or may be conducted away by the surround- 
ing air as it is repelled from it, or by the moisture or other impurities 
of the atmosphere. And hence I do not suppose the friction of the 
glass-globe to be necessary, except for the purpose of more easily re- 
moving the parts of the surface from the pressure of the cushion to 
the points of the prime conductor, and to bring them more easily into 
reciprocal contact. 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 55 

When sealing wax or sulphur is rubbed by a cushion, exactly the 
*ame circumstance occurs, but with the different ethers; as the resi- 
nous ether of the spontaneous atmosphere of the cushion, when it is 
pressed within the spontaneous atmosphere of the sealing wax, is at- 
tracted by the solid vitreous ether, which is combined with it; and 
at the same time the vitreous ether of the cushion is repelled by it; 
and hence an atmosphere of resinous ether alone exists between the 
sealing wax and the cushion thus pressed together. It is nevertheless 
possible, that friction on both sealing wax and glass may add some 
facility to the accumulations of their opposite ethers by the warmth 
which it occasions. As most electric machines succeed best after beim* 
warmed, I think even in dry frosty seasons. 

Though when a cushion is applied to a smooth surfaced glass, so 
as to intermix their electric atmospheres, the vitreous ether of the 
cushion is attracted by the resinous ether combined with the glass; but 
does not intermix with it, but only adheres to it : and as the glass 
turns round, the vitreous electric atmosphere stands on the solid 
resinous electric ether combined with the glass; and is, taken away by 
the metallic points of the prime conductor. 

Yet if the surface of the glass be roughened by scratching it with 
a diamond or with hard sand, a new event occurs; which is, that the 
vitreous ether attracted from the cushion by the resinous ether com- 
bined with the glass becomes adhesive to it; and stands upon the 
roughened glass, and will not quit the glass to go to the prime con- 
ductor; whence the surface of the glass having a vitreous electric 
atmosphere united, as it were, to its inequalities, becomes similar to 
resin; and will now attract resinous electric ether, like a stick of 
sealing wax, without combining with it. Whence this curious and 
otherwise unintelligible phenomenon, that smooth surfaced glass will 
give vitreous electric ether to an insulated conductor, and glass with 
a roughened surface will give resinous ether to it. 



»&* 



V. Accumulation of electric ethers by vicinity. 

Though the contact of a cushion on the whirling glass is the easiest 
method yet in use for the accumulation of the vitreous electric ether 



56 Additional Notes. 

on an insulated conductor; yet there are other methods of effecting 
this, as by the vicinity of the two electric ethers with a nonconductor 
between them. 

Thus I believe a great quantity of both vitreous and resinous elec- 
tric ether may be accumulated in the following manner. Let a glass 
jar be coated within in the usual manner; but let it have a loose exter- 
nal coating, which can easily be withdrawn by an insulating handle. 
Then charge the jar, as highly as it may be, by throwing into it 
vitreous electric ether; and in this state hermetically seal it, if practi- 
cable, otherwise close it with a glass stopple and wax. When the exter- 
nal coating is drawn off by an insulating handle, having previously had 
a communication with the earth, it will possess an accumulation of re- 
sinous electric ether; and then touching it with your finger, a spark 
will be seen, and there will cease to be any accumulated ether. 

Thus by alternately replacing this loose coating, and withdrawing 
it from the sealed charged jar, by means of an insulating handle; and 
by applying it to one insulated conductor, when it is in the vicinity of 
the jar; and to another insulated conductor, when it is withdrawn; 
vitreous electric ether may be accumulated on one of them, and re- 
sinous on the other; and thus I suspect an immense quantity of both 
ethers may be produced without frictioh or much labour, if a large 
electric battery was so contrived; and that it might be applied to 
many mechanical purposes, where other explosions are now used, as 
in the place of steam engines, or to rend rocks, or timber, or destroy 
invading armies ! 

The principle of this mode of accumulating the two electric ethers 
in some measure resembles that of Volta's Electrophorus and Bennet's 
Doubler. 



VI. Accumulation of electric ethers by heat and by decomposition. 

When glass or amber is heated by the fire in a dry season, I suspect 
that it becomes in some degree electric; as either of the electric 
ethers which is combined with them may have its combination 
with those materials loosened by the application of heat; and that on 



Chemical TJieory of Electricity and Magnetism. 57 

this account they may more forcibly attract the opposite one from the 
air in their vicinity. 

It has long been known, that a siliceous stone called the tour- 
malin, when its surfaces are polished, if it be laid down before the fire, 
will become electrified with vitreous, or what is called positive electri- 
city on its upper surface; and resinous, or what is called negative 
electricity on its under surface; which I suppose lay in contact with 
somewhat which supported it near the fire. 

In this experiment I suppose the tourmalin to be naturally com- 
bined with resinous electric ether like glass; which on one side next 
towards the fire by the increase of its attractive power, owing to the 
heat having loosened its combination with the earth of the stone, 
more strongly attracts vitreous electric ether from the atmosphere ; 
which now stands on its surface: and then as the lower surface of the 
stone lies in contact with the hearth, the less quantity of vitreous ether 
is there repelled by the greater quantity of it on the upper surface; 
while the resinous ether is attracted by it: and the stone is thus 
charged like a coatedjar with vitreous electric ether condensed on one 
side of it, and resinous on the other. 

So cats, as they lie by the fire in a frosty day, become so electric 
as frequently to give a perceptible spark to one's finger from their ears 
without friction. 

A fourth method of separating the two ethers would seem to be by 
the decomposition of metallic bodies, as in the experiment with Volta's 
Galvanic pile; which is said by Mr. Davy to act so much more power- 
fully, when an acid is added to the water used in the experiment; as 
will be spoken of below. 

From experiments made by M.Saussure on the electricity of evapo- 
rated water from hot metallic vessels, and from those of china and 
glass, he found when the vessel was calcined or made rusty by the 
evaporating water, that the electricity of it was positive (or vitreous), 
and that from china or glass was negative (or resinous), Encyclop. 
Britan. Art. Elect. No. 206, which seems also to show, that vitreous 
electric ether was given out or produced by the corrosion of metals, 
and resinous ether from the evaporation of water. 



,58 Additional Notes. 



VII. The spark from the conductor, and of electric light. 

When either the vitreous or resinous electric ether is accumulated 
on an insulated conductor, and an uninsulated conductor, as the finger 
of an attendant, is applied nearly in contact with it, what happens? 
The attractive and repulsive powers of the accumulated electric ether 
pass through the nonconducting plate of air, and if it be of the vitreous 
kind, it attracts the resinous electric ether of the finger towards it, 
and repels the vitreous electric ether of the finger from it. 

Hence there exists for an instant a charged plate of air between 
the finger and the prime conductor, with an accumulation of vitreous 
ether on one side of it, and of resinous ether on the other side of it; 
and lastly these two kinds of electric ethers suddenly unite by their 
powerful attraction of each other, explode, and give out heat and 
light, and rupture the plate of nonconducting air, which separated 
them. 

The rupture or disjunction of the plate of air is known by the 
sound of the spark, as of thunder; which shows that a vacuum of air 
was previously produced by the explosion of the electric fluids, and 
a vibration of the air in consequence of the sudden joining again of 
the sides of the vacuum. 

The light which attends electric sparks and shocks, is not accounted 
for by the Theory of Dr. Franklin. I suspect that it is owing to the 
combination of the two electric ethers, from which as from all chemi- 
cal explosions both light and heat are set at liberty, and because a 
smell is said to be perceptible from electric sparks, and even a taste 
which must be deduced from new combinations, or decompositions, 
as in other explosions : add to this that the same thing occurs, when 
electric shocks are passed through eggs in the dark, or through water, 
a luminous line is seen like the explosion of a train of gunpowder; 
lastly, whether light is really produced in the passage of the Galvanic 
electricity through the eyes, or that the sensation alone of light is 
perceived by its stimulating the optic nerve, has not yet been inves- 
tigated; but I suspect the former, as it emits light from its explo- 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 59 

sion even in passing through" eggs and through water, as mentioned 
above. 



VIII. The shock from the coated jar, and of electric condensation. 

1. When a glass jar is coated on both sides, and either vitreous or 
resinous electricity is thrown upon the coating on one side, and there 
is a communication to the earth from the other side, the same thing 
happens as in the plate of air between the finger and prime conductor 
above described; that is, the accumulated electricity, if it be of the 
vitreous kind, on one coating of the glass jar will attract the resinous 
part of the electricity, which sunounds or penetrates the coating on 
the other side of the jar, and also repel the vitreous part of it; but 
this occurs on a much more extensive surface than in the instance of 
the plate of air between the finger and prime conductor. 

The difference between electric sparks and shocks consists in 
this circumstance, that in the former the insulating medium, whe- 
ther of air, or of thin glass, is ruptured in one part, and thus a com- 
munication is made between the vitreous and resinous ethers, and 
they unite immediately, like globules of quicksilver, when pressed 
forcibly together : but in the electric shock a communication is made 
by some conducting body applied to the other extremities of the 
vitreous, and of the resinous atmospheres, through which they pass 
and unite, whether both sides of the coated jar are insulated, or only 
one side of it. 

And in this line, as they reciprocally meet, they appear to explode 
and give out light and heat, and a new combination of the two ethers 
is produced, as a residuum after the explosion, which probably occu- 
pies much less space than either the vitreous or resinous ethers did 
separately before. At the same time there may be another unrestrain- 
able ethereal fluid yet unobserved, given out from this explosion, 
which rends oak trees, bursts stone-walls, lights inflammable substances, 
and fuses metals, or dissipates them in a calciform smoak, along with 
which great light and much heat are emitted, or these effects arc pro- 
duced by the heat and light only thus set at liberty by their synchro- 
nous and sudden evolution. 



60 Additional Notes. 

2. The curious circumstance of electric condensation appears from 
the violence of the shock of the coated jar compared with the strongest 
spark from an insulated conductor, though the latter possesses a much 
greater surface; when vitreous electric ether is thrown on one side 
of a coated jar, it attracts, the resinous electric ether of the other side 
of the coated jar; and the same occurs, when resinous ether is thrown 
on one side of it, it attracts the vitreous ether of the other side of it, 
and thus the vitreous electric ether on one side of the jar, and the 
resinous ether on the other side of it become condensed, that is accu- 
mulated in less space, by their reciprocal attraction of each other. 

This condensation of the two electric ethers owing to their reci- 
procal attraction appears from another curious event, that the thinner 
the glass jar is, the stronger will the charge be on the same quantity 
of surface, as then the two ethers approaching nearer without their 
intermixing attract each other stronger, and consequently condense 
each other more. And when the glass jar is very thin the reci- 
procal attractive powers of the vitreous and resinous ether attract 
each other so violently as at length to pass through the glass by rup- 
turing it, in the same manner as a less forcible attraction of them 
ruptures and passes through the plate of air in the production of sparks 
from the prime conductor. 

As these two ethers on each side of a charged coated jar so power- 
fully attract each other, when a communication is made between them 
by some conducting substance as in the common mode of discharging 
an electrised coated jar, they reciprocally pass to each other for the 
purpose of combining, as some chemical fluids are known to do; as 
when nitrous gas and oxygen gas are mixed together; whence as these 
fluids pass both ways to intermix with each other, and then explode; 
a bur appears on each side of a quire of paper well pressed together, 
when a strong electric shock is passed through it ; which is occasioned 
by their explosion, like a train of gunpowder, and consequent emission 
of some other ethereal fluid, either those of heat and light or of some 
new one not yet observed. Whence it becomes difficult to explain, ac- 
cording to the theory of Dr. Franklin, which way the electric fluid 
passed, and which side of the coated jar contained positive and which 
the negative charge according to that doctrine. 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. G\ 

But the theory of the ingenious Dr. Franklin failed also in explaining- 
other phenomena of the coated jar; since if the positive electricity 
accumulated on one side of the jar repelled the electricity from the 
coating on the other side of it, so as to produce an electric vacuum; 
why should it be so eager, when a communication is made by some 
conducting body, to run into that vacuum by its attraction or gravi- 
tation, which has been made by its repulsion; as thus it seems to be 
violently attracted by the vacuum, from which it had previously re- 
pelled a fluid similar to itself, which is not easily to be comprehended. 

3. There is another mode by which either vitreous or resinous 
electric ether is capable of condensation; which consists in con- 
tracting the volume, so as to diminish the surface of the electrised 
body; as was ingeniously shown by Dr. Franklin's experiment of 
electrising a silver tankard with a length of chain rolled up within it ; 
and then drawing up the chain by a silk string, which weakened the 
electric attraction of the tankard; which was strengthened again by 
returning the chain into it; thus the condensation of an electrised 
cloud is believed to condense the electric, ether, which it contains, and 
thus to occasion the lightning passing from one cloud to another, or 
from a cloud into the earth. 

This experiment of the chain and tankard is said to succeed as well 
with what is termed negative electricity in the theory of Dr. Franklin, 
as with what is termed positive electricity; but in that theory the nega- 
tive electricity means a less quantity or total deprivation or vacuity of 
that fluid; now to condense negative electricity by lowering the sus- 
pended chain into the tankard ought to make it less negative; whereas 
in this experiment I am told it becomes more so, as appears by its 
stronger repulsion of cork balls suspended on silk strings, and pre- 
viously electrised by rubbed sealing wax : and if the negative electricity 
be believed to be a perfect vacuum of it, the condensation of a vacuum 
of electricity is totally incomprehensible ; and this experiment alone 
seems to demonstrate the existence of two electric ethers. 



6% Additional Notes. 



IX. Of Galvanic Electricity. 

1. The conductors of electricity, as well as the nonconductors of 
it, have probably a portion of the vitreous and resinous ethers com- 
bined with them, and have also another portion of these ethers diffused 
round them, which forms their natural or spontaneous adhesive atmo- 
spheres; and which exists in different proportions round them corre- 
spondent in quantity to those which are combined with them, but 
opposite in kind. 

These adhesive spontaneous atmospheres of electricity are shown 
to consist of different proportions or quantities of the electric ethers 
by Mr. Bennet's Doubler of Electricity, as mentioned in his work 
called New Experiments on Electricity, sold by Johnson. In this 
work, p. 91, the blade of a steel knife was evidently, in his language, 
positive, compared to a soft iron wire which was comparatively nega- 
tive; io the adhesive electricity of gold, silver, copper, brass, bis- 
muth, mercury, and various kinds of wood and stone, were what he 
terms positive or vitreous ; and that of tin and zinc, what he terms 
negative or resinous. 

Where these spontaneous atmospheres of diffused electricity sur- 
rounding two conducting bodies, as two pieces of silver, are perfectly 
similar, they probably do not intermix when brought into the vicinity 
of each other; but if these spontaneous atmospheres of diffused elec- 
tricity are different in respect to the proportion of the two ethers, or 
perhaps in respect to their quantity, in however small degree either 
of these circumstances exists, they may be made to unite but with 
some difficulty ; as the two metallic plates, suppose one of silver, and 
another of zinc, which they surround, must be brought into absolute 
or adhesive contact; or otherwise these atmospheres may be forced 
together so as to be much flattened, and compress each other where 
they meet, like small globules of quicksilver when pressed together, 
but without uniting. 

This curious phenomenon may be seen in more dense electric 
atmospheres accumulated by art, as in the following experiment 
ascribed to Mr. Canton. Lay a wooden skewer the size of a goose- 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 63 

quill across a dry wine-glass, and another across another wine-glass; 
let the ends of them touch each other, as they lie in a horizontal 
line; call them X and Y; approach a rubbed glass-tube near the 
external end of the skewer X, but not so as to touch it; then separate 
the two skewers by removing the wine-glasses further from each 
other; and lastly, withdraw the rubbed glass-tube, and the skewer X 
will now be found to possess resinous electricity, which has been 
generally called negative or minus electricity; and the skewer Y will 
be found to possess vitreous, or what is generally termed positive or 
plus electricity. 

The same phenomenon will occur if rubbed sealing wax be applied 
near to, but not in contact with, the skewer X, as the skewer X will 
then be left with an atmosphere of vitreous ether, and the skewer Y 
with one of resinous ether. These experiments also evince the exist- 
ence of two electric fluids, as they cannot be understood from an idea 
of one being a greater or less quantity of the same material; as a 
vacuum of electric ether, brought near to one end of the skewer, can- 
not be conceived so to attract the ether as to produce a vacuum at 
the other end. 

In this experiment the electric atmospheres, which are nearly of 
similar kinds, do not seem to touch, as there may remain a thin plate 
of air between them, in the same manner as small globules of mercury 
may be pressed together so as to compress each other, long before 
they intermix; or as plates of lead or brass require strongly to be 
pressed together before they acquire the attraction of cohesion; that 
is, before they come into real contact 

2. It is probable, that all bodies are more or less perfect con- 
ductors, as they have less or more of either of the electric ethers com- 
bined with them; as mentioned in Preliminary Proposition, No. VI. 
as they may then less resist the passage of either of the ethers through 
them. Whence some conducting bodies admit the junction of these 
spontaneous electric atmospheres, in which the proportions or quan- 
tities of the two ethers are not very different, with greater facility 
than others. 

Thus in the common experiments, where the vitreous or resinous 
ether is accumulated by art, metallic bodies have been esteemed 



6i Additional Notes. 

the best conductors, and next to these water, and all other moist 
bodies; but it Was lately discovered, that dry charcoal, recently burnt, 
was a more perfect conductor than metals; and it appears from the 
experiments discovered by Galvani, which have thence the name 
of Galvanism, that animal flesh, and particularly perhaps the nerves 
of animals, both which are composed of much carbon and water, are 
the most perfect conductors yet discovered; that is, that they give 
the least resistance to the junction of the spontaneous electric atmo- 
spheres, which exist round metallic bodies, and which differ very little 
in respect to the proportions of their vitreous and resinous ingre- 
dients. 

Thus also, though where the accumulated electricities are dense, 
as in charging a coated glass-jar, the glass, which intervenes, may be 
of considerable thickness, and may still become charged by the 
stronger attraction of the secondary electric ethers; but where the 
spontaneous adhesive electric atmospheres are employed to charge 
plates of air, as in the Galvanic pile, or probably to charge thin animal 
membranes or cuticles, as perhaps in the shock given by the torpedo 
or gymnotus, it seems necessary that the intervening nonconducting 
plate must be extremely thin, that it may become charged by the 
weaker attraction of these small quantities or difference of the spon- 
taneous electric atmospheres; and in this circumstance only, I sup- 
pose, the shocks from the Galvanic pile, and from the torpedo and 
gymnotus, differ from those of the coated jar. 

3. When atmospheres of electricity, which do not differ much in 
the quantity or proportion of their vitreous and resinous ethers, ap- 
proach each other, they are not easily or rapidly united; but the pre- 
dominant vitreous or resinous ether of one of them repels the similar 
ether of the opposed atmosphere, and attracts the contrary kind of 
ether. 

The slowness or difficulty with which atmospheres, which differ 
but little in kind or in density, unite with each other, appears not 
only from the experiment of Mr. Canton above related, but also from 
the repeated smaller shocks, which may be taken from a charged 
coated jar after the first or principal discharge, if the conducting 
medium has not been quickly removed, as is also mentioned above. 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 65 

Hence those atmospheres of either kind of electric matter, which 
differ but very little from each other in kind or quantity, require the 
most perfect conductors to cause them to unite. Thus it appears by 
Mr. Bennet's doubler, as mentioned in the Preliminary Proposition, 
No. VI. that the natural adhesive atmosphere round silver contains 
more vitreous electricity than that naturally round zinc; but when 
thin plates of these metals, each about an ounce in weight, are laid 
on each other, or moderately pressed together, their atmospheres do 
not unite. For metallic plates, which when laid on each other, do not 
adhere, cannot be said to be in real contact, of which their not ad- 
hering is a proof; and in consequence a thin plate of air, or of their 
own repulsive ethers exists between them. 

Hence when two plates of zinc and silver are thus brought in to the 
vicinity of each other, the plate of air between them, as they are not 
in adhesive contact, becomes like a charged coated jar; and if these 
two metallic plates are touched by your dry hands, they do not unite 
their electricities, as the dry cuticle is not a sufficiently good con- 
ductor; but if one of the metals be put above, and another under the 
tongue, the saliva and moist mucous membrane, muscular fibres, and 
nerves, supply so good a conductor, that this very minute electric 
shock is produced, and a kind of pungent taste is perceived. 

When a plate or pencil of silver is put between the upper lip and 
the gum, and a plate or pencil of zinc under the tongue, a sensation 
of light is perceived in the eyes, as often as the exterior extremities 
of these metals are brought into contact; which is OM'ing in like 
manner to the discharge of a very minute electric shock, which would 
not have been produced but by the intervention of such good con- 
ductors as moist membranes, muscular fibres, and nerves. 

In this situation, a sensation of light is produced in the eyes; 
which seems to show, that these ethers pass through nerves more 
easily, than through muscular flesh simply; since the passage of them 
through the retina of the eyes from the upper gum to the parts be- 
neath the tongue is a more distant one, than would otherwise appear 
necessary. It is not so easy to give the sensation of light in the eyes 
by passing a small shock of artificially accumulated electricity through 

the eyes (though this may, I believe, be done) because this artificial 

K 



66 Additional Notes. 

accumulated electricity, as it passes with greater velocity than the 
spontaneous accumulations of it, will readily permeate the muscles or 
other moist parts of animal bodies; whereas the spontaneous accu- 
mulations of electricity seem to require the best of all conductors, 
as animal nerves, to facilitate their passage. 

4. In the Galvanic pile of Volta this electric shock becomes so 
much increased, as to pass by less perfect conductors, and to give 
shocks to the arms of the conducting person, if the cuticle of his 
hands be moistened, and even to show sparks like the coated jar; 
which appears to be effected in this manner. When a plate of silver 
is laid horizontally on a plate of zinc, the plate of air between them 
becomes charged like a coated jar; as the silver, naturally possessing 
more vitreous electric ether, repels the vitreous ether, which the 
zinc possesses in less quantity, and attracts the resinous ether of the 
zinc. Whence the inferior surface of the plate of zinc abounds now 
with vitreous ether, and its upper surface with resinous ether. Be- 
neath this pair of plates lay a cloth moistened with water, or with 
some better conductor, as salt and water, or a slight acid mixed with 
water, or volatile alcali of ammoniac mixed with water, and this 
vitreous electric ether on the lower surface of the zinc plate will be 
given to the second silver plate which lies beneath it; and thus this 
second silver plate will possess not only its own natural vitreous atmo- 
sphere, which was denser or in greater quantity than that of the, zinc 
plate next beneath it, but now acquires an addition of vitreous ether 
from the zinc plate above it, conducted to it through the moist cloth. 

This then will repel more vitreous ether from the second zinc 
plate into the third silver one; and so on till the plates of air between 
the zincs and silvers are all charged, and each stronger and stronger, 
as they descend in the pile. 

If the reader still prefers the Franklinian theory of positive and 
negative electricity, he will please to put the word positive for vitre- 
ous, and negative for resinous, and he will find the theory of the 
Galvanic pile equally thus accounted for. 

5. When a Galvanic pile is thus placed, and a communication be- 
tween the two ends of it is made by wires, so that the electric shocks 
pass through water, the water becomes decomposed in some measure, 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 67 

and oxygen is liberated from it at the point of one wire, and hydrogen 
at the point of the other; and this though a syphon of water be 
interposed between them. This curious circumstance seems to evince 
the existence of two electric ethers, which enter the water at different 
ends of the syphon, and have chemical affinities to the component 
parts of it; the resinous ether sets at liberty the hydrogen at one end, 
and the vitreous ether the oxygen at the other end of the conducting 
medium. 

Hence it must appear, that the longer the Galvanic pile, or the 
greater the number of the alternate pieces of silver and zinc that it 
consists of, the stronger will be the Galvanic shock; but there is 
another circumstance difficult to explain, which is the perpetual de- 
composition of water by the Galvanic pile; when water is made the 
conducting medium between the two extremities of the pile. 

As no conductors of electricity are absolutely perfect, there must 
be produced a certain accumulation of vitreous ether on one side of 
each charged plate of the Galvanic pile, and of resinous ether on the 
other side of it, before the discharge takes place, even though the 
conducting medium be in apparent contact. When the discharge does 
take place, the whole of the accumulated electricity explodes and 
vanishes; and then an instant of time is required for the silver and 
zinc again to attract from the air, or other bodies in their vicinity, 
their spontaneous natural atmospheres, and then another discharge 
ensues; and so repeatedly and perpetually till the surface of one of 
the metallic plates becomes so much oxydated or calcined, that it 
ceases to act. 

Hence a perpetual motion may be said to be produced, with an 
incessant decomposition of water into the two gasses of oxygen and 
hydrogen; which must probably be constantly proceeding on all moist 
surfaces, where a chain of electric conductors exists, surrounded with 
different proportions of the two electric ethers. Whence the ceaseless 
liberation of oxygen from the water has oxydated or calcined the 
ores of metals near the surface of the earth, as of manganese, of zinc 
into lapis calaminaris, of iron into various ochres, and other calci- 
form ores. From this source also the corrosion of some metals may 
be traced, when they are immersed in water in the vicinity of each 



68 Additional Notes. 

other, as when the copper sheathing of ships was held on by iron 
nails. And hence another great operation of nature is probably pro- 
duced, I mean the restoration of oxygen to the atmosphere from the 
surface of the earth in dewy mornings, as well as from the perspira- 
tion of vegetable leaves; which atmospheric oxygen is hourly de- 
structible by the respiration of animals and plants, by combustion, 
and by other oxydations. 

6. The combination of the electric ethers with metallic bodies 
before mentioned appears from the Galvanic pile; since, according to 
the experiments of Mr. Davy, when an acid is mixed with the water 
placed between the alternate pairs of silver and zinc plates, a much 
greater electric shock is produced by the same pile; and an anony- 
mous writer in the Phil. Magaz. No. 36, for May 1801, asserts, that 
when the intervening cloths or papers are moistened with pure alcali, 
as a solution of pure ammonia, the effect is greater than by any other 
material. It must here be observed, that both the acid and the alca- 
line solution, or common salt and water, and even water alone, in 
these experiments much erodes the plates of zinc, and somewhat 
tarnishes those of silver. Whence it would appear, that as by the 
repeated explosions of the two electric ethers in the conducting 
water, both oxygen and hydrogen are liberated; the oxygen erodes 
the zinc plates, and thus increases the Galvanic shock by liberating 
their combined electric ethers : and that this erosion is much increased 
by a mixture either of acid or of volatile alcali with the water. Fur- 
ther experiments are wanting on this subject to show whether metallic 
bodies emit either or both of the electric ethers at the time of their 
solution or erosion in acids or in alcalies. 



X. Of the two Magnetic Ethers. 

1. Magnetism coincides with electricity in so many important 
points, that the existence of two magnetic ethers, as well as of two 
electric ones, becomes highly probable. We shall suppose, that in a 
common bar of iron or steel the two magnetic ethers exist intermixed 
or in their neutral state; which for the greater ease of speaking of 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 69 

them may be called arctic ether and antarctic ether; and in this state 
like the two electric fluids they are not cognizable by our senses or 
experiments. 

When these two magnetic ethers are separated from each other, 
and the arctic ether is accumulated on one end of an iron or steel bar, 
which is then called the north pole of the magnet, and the antarctic 
ether is accumulated on the other end of the bar, and is then termed 
the south pole of the magnet; they become capable of attracting 
other pieces of iron or steel, and are thus cognizable by experiments. 

It seems probable, that it is not the magnetic ether itself which 
attracts or repels particles of iron, but that an attractive and repul- 
sive ether attends the magnetic ethers, as was shown to attend the 
electric ones in No. II. 9. of this Note; because magnetism does not 
pass through other bodies, as it does not escape from magnetised steel 
when in contact with other bodies; just as the electric fluids do not 
pass through glass, but the attractive and repellent ethers, which 
attend both the magnetic and electric ethers, pass through all bodies. 

2. The prominent articles of analogical coincidence between mag- 
netism and electricity are first, that when one end of an iron bar 
possesses an accumulation of arctic magnetic ether, or northern 
polarity; the other end possesses an accumulation of antarctic mag- 
netic ether, or southern polarity; in the same manner as when vitreous 
electric ether is accumulated on one side of a coated glass jar, resi- 
nous electric ether becomes accumulated on the other side of it; as 
the vitreous and resinous ethers strongly attract each other, and 
strongly repel the ethers of the same denomination, but are prevented 
from intermixing by the glass plane between them; so the arctic and 
antarctic ethers attract each other, and repel those of similar deno- 
mination, but are prevented from intermixing by the iron or steel 
being a bad conductor of them; they will, nevertheless, sooner com- 
bine, when the bar is of soft iron, than when it is of hardened steel; 
and then they slowly combine without explosion, that is, without 
emitting heat and light like the electric ethers, and therefore resemble 
a mixture of oxygen and pure ammonia; which unite silently pro- 
ducing a neutral fluid without emitting any other fluids previously 
combined with them. 



70 Additional Notes. 

Secondly, If the north pole of a magnetic bar be approached near 
to the eye of a sewing needle, the arctic ether of the magnet attracts 
the antarctic ether, which resides in the needle towards the eye of it, 
and repels the arctic ether, which resides in the needle towards the 
point, precisely in the same manner as occurs in presenting an elec- 
trised glass tube, or a rubbed stick of sealing wax to one extremity 
.of two skewers insulated horizontally on wine-glasses in the experi- 
ment ascribed to Mr. Canton, and described in No. IX. I, of this 
Additional Note, and also so exactly resembles the method of pro- 
ducing a separation and consequent accumulation of the two electric 
ethers by pressing a cushion on glass or on sealing wax, . described in 
No. 4 of this Note, that their analogy is evidently apparent. 

Thirdly, When much accumulated electricity is approached to one 
end of a long glass tube by a charged prime conductor, there will 
exist many divisions of the vitreous and resinous electricity alter- 
nately; as the vitreous ether attracts the resinous ether from a cer- 
tain distance on the surface of the glass tube, and repels the vitreous 
ether; but, as this surface is a bad conductor, these reciprocal attrac- 
tions and repulsions do not extend very far along it, but cease and 
recur in various parts of it. Exactly similar to this, when a magnetic 
bar is approximated to the end of a common bar of iron or steel, as 
described in Mr. Cavallo's valuable Treatise on Magnetism; the 
arctic ether of the north pole of the magnetic bar attracts the 
antarctic ether of the bar of common iron towards the end in contact, 
and repels the arctic ether; but, as iron and steel are as bad conductors 
of magnetism, as glass is of electricity, this accumulation of arctic 
ether extends but a little way, and then there exists an accumulation 
of antarctic ether; and thus reciprocally in three or four divisions of 
the bar, which now becomes magnetised, as the glass tube became 
electrised. 

Another striking feature, which shows the sisterhood of electricity 
and magnetism, consists in the origin of both of them from the earth, 
or common mass of matter. The eduction of electricity from the 
earth is shown by an insulated cushion soon ceasing to supply either 
the vitreous or resinous ether to the whirling globe of glass or of sul- 
phur; the eduction of magnetism from the earth appears from the 



Chemical Theory of Electricity (Did Magnetism. 71 

following experiment: if a bar of iron be set upright on the earth in 
this part of the world, it becomes in a short time magnetical; the 
lower end possessing northern polarity, or arctic ether, and the 
higher end in consequence possessing southern polarity or antarctic 
ether; which may be well explained, if we suppose with Mr. Cavallo, 
that the earth itself is one great magnet, with its southern polarity or 
antarctic ether at the northern end of its axis; and, in consequence, 
that it attracts the arctic ether of the iron bar into that end of it which 
touches the earth, and repels the antarctic ether of the iron bar to the 
other end of it, exactly the same as when the southern pole of an 
artificial magnet is brought into contact with one end of a sewing 
needle. 

3. The magnetic and electric ethers agree in the characters above 
mentioned, and perhaps in many others, but differ in the following- 
ones. The electric ethers pass readily through metallic, aqueous, and 
carbonic bodies, but do not permeate vitreous or resinous ones; 
though on the surfaces of these they are capable of adhering, and of 
being accumulated by the approach or contact of other bodies; while 
the magnetic ethers will not permeate any bodies, and are capable of 
being accumulated only on iron and steel by the approach or contact 
of natural or artificial magnets, or of the earth; at the same time the 
attractive and repulsive powers both of the magnetic and electric 
ethers will act through all bodies, like those of gravitation and heat. 

Secondly, The two electric ethers rush into combination, when 
they can approach each other, after having been separated and con- 
densed, and produce a violent explosion emitting the heat and light, 
which were previously combined with them; whereas the two mag- 
netic ethers slowly combine, after having been separated and accu- 
mulated on the opposite ends of a soft iron bar, and without emitting 
heat and light produce a neutral mixture, which, like the electric com- 
bination, ceases to be cognizable by our senses or experiments. 

Thirdly, The wonderful property of the magnetic ethers, when 
separately accumulated on the ends of a needle, endeavouring to ap- 
proach the two opposite poles of the earth; nothing similar to which 
has been observed in the electric ethers. 

From these strict analogies between electricity and magnetism 



72 Additional Notes. 

we may conclude that the latter consists of two ethers as well as the 
former ; and that they both, when separated by art or nature, com- 
bine by chemical affinity when they approach, the one exploding, and 
then consisting of a residuum after having emitted heat and light ; 
and the other producing simply a neutralised fluid by their union. 



XI. Conclusion. 

1. When two fluids are diffused together without undergoing any 
change of their chemical properties, they are said simply to be mixed, 
and not combined ; as milk and water when poured together, or as 
oxygen and azote in the common atmosphere. So when salt or sugar 
is diffused in water, it is termed solution, and not combination; as 
no change of their chemical properties succeeds. 

But when an acid is mixed with a pure alcali a combination is pro- 
duced, and the mixture is said to become neutral, as it does not pos- 
sess the chemical properties which either of the two ingredients 
possessed in their separate state, and is therefore similar to neither of 
them. But when a carbonated alcali, as mild salt of tartar, is mixed 
with a mineral acid, they presently combine as above, but now the 
carbonic acid flies forcibly away in the form of gas; this, therefore, 
may be termed a kind of explosion, but cannot properly be so called, 
as the ethereal fluids of heat and light are not principally emitted, 
but an aerial one or gas; which may probably acquire a small quantity 
of heat from the combining matters. 

But when strong acid of nitre is poured upon charcoal in fine 
powder, or upon oil of cloves, a violent explosion ensues, and the 
ethereal matters of heat and light are emitted in great abundance, and 
are dissipated; while in the former instance the oxygen of the nitrous 
acid unites with the carbone forming carbonic acid gas, and the 
azote escapes in its gasseous form; which may be termed a residuum 
after the explosion, and may be confined in a proper apparatus, which 
the heat and light cannot; for the former, if its production be great 
and sudden, bursts the vessels, or otherwise it passes slowly through 



Chemical Theory of Elecfricity and Magnetism. 73 

them; and the latter passes through transparent bodies, and combines 
with opake ones. 

But where ethers only are concerned in an explosion, as the two 
electric ones, which are previously difficult to confine in vessels; the 
repulsive ethers of heat and light are given out; and what remains is 
a combination of the two electric ethers; which in this state arc at- 
tracted by all bodies, and form atmospheres round them. 

These combined electric atmospheres must possess less heat and 
light after their explosion; which they seem afterwards to acquire at 
the time they are again separated from each other, probably from the 
combined heat and combined light of the cushion and glass, or of 
the cushion and resin; by the contact of which they are separated; 
and not from the diffused heat of them; but no experiments have 
yet been made to ascertain this fact, this combination of the 
vitreous and resinous ethers may be esteemed the residuum after 
their explosion, 

2. Hence the essence of explosion consists in two bodies, which 
are previously united with heat and light, so strongly attracting each 
other, as to set at liberty those two repulsive ethers; but it happens, 
that these explosive materials cannot generally be brought into each 
other's vicinity in a state of sufficient density ; unless they are also 
previously combined with some other material beside the light and heat 
above spoken of: as in the nitrous acid, the oxygen is previously com- 
bined with azote; and is thus in a condensed state, before it is 
brought into the contact or vicinity of the carbone; there are how- 
ever bodies which will slowly explode; or give out heat and light, 
without being previously combined with other bodies; as phosphorus 
in the common atmosphere, some dead fish in a certain degree of pu- 
tridity, and some living insects probably by their respiration in trans- 
parent lungs, which is a kind of combustion. 

But the two electric ethers are condensed by being brought into 
vicinity with each other with a nonconductor between them ; :md 
thus explode violently, as soon as they communicate, cither by rup- 
turing the interposed nonconductor, or by a metallic communication. 
This curious method of a previous condensation of the two exploding 

L 



74 Additional Notes. 

matters, without either of them being combined with any other ma- 
terial except with the ethers of heat and light, distinguishes this 
ethereal explosion from that of most other bodies; and seems to have 
been the cause, which prevented the ingenious Dr. Franklin, and 
others since his time, from ascribing the powerful effects of the elec- 
tric battery, and of lightning in bursting trees, inflaming combus- 
tible materials, and fusing metals, to chemical explosion; which it 
resembles in every other circumstance, but in the manner of the pre- 
vious condensation of the materials, so as violently to attract each 
other, and suddenly set at liberty the heat and light, with which 
one or both of them were combined. 

3. This combination of vitreous and resinous electric ethers is 
again destroyed or weakened by the attractions of other bodies ; as 
they separate intirely, or exist in different proportions, forming at- 
mospheres round conducting and nonconducting bodies; and in this 
they resemble other combinations of matters; as oxygen and azote, 
when united in the production of nitrous acid, are again separated by 
carbone; which attracts the oxygen more powerfully, than that at- 
tracts the azote, with which it is combined. 

This mode of again separating the combined electric ethers by 
pressing them, as they surround bodies in different proportions, into 
each other's atmospheres, as by the glass and cushion, has not been 
observed respecting the decomposition of other bodies; when their 
minute particles are brought so near together as to decompose each 
other; which has thence probably contributed to prevent this decom- 
position of the two combined electric ethers from being ascribed to 
chemical laws; but, as far as we know, the attractive and repulsive 
atmospheres round the minute particles of bodies in chemical opera- 
tions may act in a similar manner; as the attractive and repulsive at- 
mospheres, which accompany the electric ethers surrounding the 
larger masses of matter, and that hence both the electric and the che- 
mical explosions are subject to the same laws, and also the decompo- 
sition again of those particles, which were combined in the act of 
explosion. 

4. It is probable that this theory of electric and magnetic attractions 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 75 

and repulsions, which so visibly exist in atmospheres round larger 
masses of matter, may be applied to explain the invisible attractions 
and repulsions of the minute particles of bodies in chemical combina- 
tions and decompositions, and also to give a clear idea of the attrac- 
tions of the great masses of matter, which form the gravitations of the 
universe. 

We are so accustomed to see bodies attract each other, when they 
are in absolute contact, as dew drops or particles of quicksilver form- 
ing themselves into spheres, as water rising in capillary tubes, the 
solution of salts and sugar in water, and the cohesion with which all 
hard bodies are held together, that we are not surprised at the attrac- 
tions of bodies in contact with each other, but ascribe them to a law 
affecting all matter. In similar manner when two bodies in apparent 
contact repel each other, as oil thrown on water; or when heat con- 
verts ice into water and water into steam ; or when one hard body in 
motion pushes another hard body out of its place ; we feel no surprise, 
as these events so perpetually occur to us, but ascribe them as Avell 
as the attractions of bodies in contact with each other, to a general 
law of nature. 

But when distant bodies appear to attract or repel each other, as 
we believe that nothing can act where it does not exist, we are struck 
with astonishment; which is owing to our not seeing the intermediate 
ethers, the existence of which is ascertained by the electric and mag- 
netic facts above related. 

From the facts and observations above mentioned electricity and 
magnetism consist each of them of two ethers, as the vitreous and re- 
sinous electric ethers, and the arctic and antarctic magnetic ethers. 
But as neither of the electric ethers will pass through glass or resin; 
and as neither of the magnetic ethers will pass through any bodies ex- 
cept iron; and yet the attractive and repulsive powers accompanying 
all these ethers permeate bodies of all kinds; it follows, that ethers 
more subtile than either the electric or magnetic ones attend those 
ethers forming atmospheres round them; as those electric and mag- 
netic ethers themselves form atmospheres round other bodies. 

This secondary atmosphere of the electric one appears to consist 



76 Additional Notes. 

of two ethers, like the electric one which it surrounds: but these 
ethers are probably more subtile as they permeate all bodies; and 
when they unite by the reciprocal approach of the bodies, which they 
surround, they do not appear to emit heat and light, as the primary 
electric atmospheres do; and therefore they are simpler fluids, as they 
are not previously combined with heat and light. The secondary mag- 
netic atmospheres are also probably more subtile or simple than the 
primary ones. 

Hence we may suppose, that not only all the larger insulated masses 
of matter, but all the minute particles also, Avhich constitute those 
masses, are surrounded by two ethereal fluids; which like the electric 
and magnetic ones attract each other forcibly, and as forcibly repel 
those of the same denomination; and at the same time strongly adhere 
to the bodies, which they surround. Secondly that these ethers are of 
the finer kind, like those secondary ones, which surround the pri- 
mary electric and magnetic ethers; and that therefore they do not 
explode giving out heat and light when they unite, but simply com- 
bine, and become neutral; and lastly, that they surround different 
bodies in different proportions, as the vitreous , and resinous electric 
ethers were shown to surround silver and zinc and many other metals 
in different proportions in No. IX. of this note. 

5. For the greater ease of conversing on this subject, we shall call 
these two ethers, with which all bodies are surrounded, the mascu- 
line and the feminine ethers ; and suppose them to possess the proper- 
ties above mentioned. We should here however previously observe, 
that in chemical processes it is necessary, that the bodies, which are 
to combine or unite with each other, should be in a fluid state, and 
the particles in contact with each other; thus when salt is dissolving 
in Avater, the particles of salt unite with those of the water, which 
touch them; these particles of water become saturated, and thence 
attract some of the saline particles with less force; which are there- 
fore attracted from them by those behind; and the first particles of 
water are again saturated from the solid salt ; or in some similar pro- 
cesses the saturated combinations may subside or evaporate, as in the 
union of the two electric ethers, or in the explosion of gun-powder, 
and thus those in their vicinity may approach each other. This ne- 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 77 

cessity of a liquid form for the purpose of combination appears in the 
lighting of gunpowder, as well as in all other combustion, the spark 
of fire applied dissolves the sulphur, and liquifies the combined heat; 
and by these means a fluidity succeeds, and the consequent attractions 
and repulsions, which form the explosion. 

The whole mixed mass of matter, of which the earth is composed, 
we suppose to be surrounded and penetrated by the two ethers, but 
with a greater proportion of the masculine ether than of the feminine. 
When a stone is elevated above the surface of the earth, we suppose it 
also to be surrounded with an atmosphere of the two ethers, but with a 
greater proportion of the feminine than of the masculine, and that these 
ethers adhere strongly by cohesion both to the earth and to the stone 
elevated above it. Now the greater quantity of the masculine ether 
of the earth becomes in contact with the greater quantity of the femi- 
nine ether of the stone above it; which it powerfully attracts, and at 
the same time repels the less quantity of the masculine ether of the 
stone. The reciprocal attractions of these two fluids, if not restrained 
by counter attractions, bring them together as in chemical com- 
bination, and thus they bring together the solid bodies, which they 
reciprocally adhere to; if they be not immovable; which solid bodies, 
when brought into contact, cohere by their own reciprocal attractions, 
and hence the mysterious affair of distant attraction or gravitation 
becomes intelligible, and consonant to the chemical combinations of 
fluids. 

To further elucidate these various attractions, if the patient reader 
be not already tired, he will please to attend to the following experi- 
ment: let a bit of sponge suspended on a silk line be moistened with a 
solution of pure alcali, and another similar piece of sponge be moistened 
with a weak acid, and suspended near the former; electrize one of 
them with vitreous ether, and the other with resinous ether; as they 
hang with a thin plate of glass between them : now as these two electric 
ethers appear to attract each other without intermixing; as neither of 
them can pass through glass; they must be themselves surrounded with 
secondary ethers, which pass through the glass, and attract each other, 
as they become in contact; as these secondary ethers adhere to the 
primary vitreous and resinous ethers, these primary ones are drawn 



78 Additional Notes. 

by them into each other's vicinity by the attraction of cohesion, and 
become condensed on each side of the glass plane; and then when the 
glass plane is withdrawn, the two electric ethers being now in contact 
rush violently together, and draw along with them the pieces of moist- 
ened sponge, to which they adhere; and finally the acid and alcaline 
liquids being now brought into contact combine by their chemical 
affinity. 

The repulsions of distant bodies are also explicable by this idea of 
their being surrounded with two ethers, which we have termed mas- 
culine and feminine for the ease of conversing about them ; and have 
compared them to vitreous and resinous electricity, and to arctic and 
antarctic magnetism. As when two particles of matter, or two larger 
-masses of it, are surrounded both with their masculine ethers, these 
ethers repel each other or refuse to intermix; and in consequence 
the bodies to which they adhere, recede from each other; as two 
cork-balls suspended near each other, and electrised both with 
vitreous or both with resinous ether, repel each other; or as the 
extremities of two needles magnetised both with arctic, or both with 
antarctic ether, repel each other; or as oil and water surrounded both 
with their masculine, or both with their feminine ethers, repel each 
other without touching; so light is believed to be reflected from a 
mirror without touching its surface, and to be bent towards the edge 
of a knife, or refracted by its approach from a rarer medium into a 
denser one, by the repulsive ether of the mirror, and the attractive 
ones of the knife-edge, and of the denser medium. Thus a polished 
tea-cup slips on the polished saucer probably without their actual 
contact with each other, till a few drops of water are interposed be- 
tween them by capillary attraction, and prevent its sliding by their 
tenacity. And so, lastly, one hard body in motion pushes another 
hard body out of its place by their repulsive ethers without being in 
contact; as appears from their not adhering to each other, which all 
bodies in real contact are believed to do. Whence also may be 
inferred the reason why bodies have been supposed to repel at one 
distance and attract at another, because they attract when their 
particles are in contact with each other, and either attract or repel 



Chemical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism. 79 

when at a distance by the intervention of their attractive or repul- 
sive ethers. 

Thus have I endeavoured to take one step further back into the 
mystery of the gravitation and repulsion of bodies, which appeared 
to be distant from each other, as of the sun and planets, as I before 
endeavoured to take one step further back into the mysteries of 
generation in my account of the production of the buds of vegetables 
in Phytologia. With what success these have been attended I now 
leave to the judgment of philosophical readers, from which I can 
make no appeal. 



80 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. XIII. 
ANALYSIS OF TASTE. 

Fond Fancy's eye recalls the form divine, 

And Taste sits smiling upon Beauty's shrine. Canto III. 1. 221. 

The word Taste in its extensive application may express the plea- 
sures received by any of our senses, when excited into action by the 
stimulus of external objects; as when odours stimulate the nostrils, 
or flavours the palate; or when smoothness, or softness, are perceived 
by the touch, or warmth by its adapted organ of sense. The word 
Taste is also used to signify the pleasurable trains of ideas suggested 
by language, as in the compositions of poetry and oratory. But the 
pleasures, consequent to the exertions of our sense of vision only, are 
designed here to be treated of, with occasional references to those of 
the ear, when they elucidate each other. 

When any of our organs of sense are excited into their due quan- 
tity of action, a pleasurable sensation succeeds, as shown in Zoonomia, 
Vol. I. Sect. IV. These are simply the pleasures attending perception, 
and not those which are termed the pleasures of Taste; which consist 
of additional pleasures arising from the peculiar forms or colours of 
objects, or of their peculiar combinations or successions, or from other 
agreeable trains of ideas previously associated with them. 

There are four sources of pleasure attendant on the excitation of 
the nerves of vision by light and colours, besides that simply of per- 
ception above mentioned; the first is derived from a degree of novelty 
of the forms, colours, numbers, combinations, or successions, and 
visible objects. The second is derived from a degree of repetition of 
their forms, colours, numbers, combinations, or successions. Where 
these two circumstances exist united in certain quantities, and com- 
pose the principal part of a landscape, it is termed picturesque by 



Analysis of Taste. 81 

modern writers. The third source of pleasure from the perception 
of the visible world may be termed the melody of colours, which will 
be shown to coincide with melody of sounds: this circumstance may 
also accompany the picturesque, and will add to the pleasure it affords. 
The fourth source of pleasure from the perception of visible objects is 
derived from the previous association of other pleasurable trains of 
ideas with certain forms, colours, combinations, or successions of 
them. Whence the beautiful, sublime, romantic, melancholic, and 
other emotions, which have not acquired names to express them. We 
may add, that all these four sources of pleasure from perceptions arc 
equally applicable to those of sounds as of sights. 



I. Novelty or infrequency of visible objects. 

The first circumstance, which suggests an additional pleasure in 
the contemplation of visible objects, besides that of simple perception, 
arises from their novelty or infrequency; that is from the unusual 
combinations or successions of their forms or colours. From this 
source is derived the perpetual cheerfulness of youth, and the want of 
it is liable to add a gloom to the countenance of age. It is this which 
produces variety in landscape compared with the common course of 
nature, an intricacy which incites investigation, and a curiosity which 
leads to explore the works of nature. Those who travel into forei»n 
regions instigated by curiosity, or who examine and unfold the intri- 
cacies of sciences at home, are led by novelty; which not only sup- 
plies ornament to beauty or to grandeur, but adds agreeable surprise 
to the point of the epigram, and to the double meaning of the pun, 
and is courted alike by poets and philosophers. 

It should be here premised, that the word Novelty, as used in these 
pages, admits of degrees or quantities, some objects, or the ideas 
excited by them, possessing more or less novelty, as they are more or 
less unusual. Which the reader will please to attend to, as we have 
used the word Infrequency of objects, or of the ideas excited by 
them, to express the degrees or quantities of their novelty. 

The source, from which is derived the pleasure of novelty, is a 

M 



82 Additional Notes. 

metaphysical inquiry of great curiosity, and will on that account 
excuse my here introducing it. In our waking hours whenever an 
idea occurs, which is incongruous to our former experience, we 
instantly dissever the train of imagination by the power of volition; 
and compare the incongruous idea with our previous knowledge of 
nature, and reject it. This operation of the mind has not yet acquired 
a specific name, though it is exerted every minute of our waking 
hours, unless it may be termed Intuitive Analogy. It is an act 
of reasoning of which we are unconscious except by its effects in pre- 
serving the congruity of our ideas; Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XVII. 3. 7. 

In our sleep as the power of volition is suspended, and conse- 
quently that of reason, when any incongruous ideas occur in the 
trains of imagination, which compose our dreams; we cannot compare 
them with our previous knowledge of nature and reject them; whence 
arises the perpetual inconsistency of our sleeping trains of ideas; 
and whence in our dreams we never feel the sentiment of novelty; 
however different the ideas, which present themselves, may be from 
the usual course of nature. 

But in our waking hours, whenever any object occurs which does 
not accord with the usual course of nature, we immediately and un- 
consciously exert our voluntary power, and examine it by intuitive 
analogy, comparing it with our previous knowledge of nature. This 
exertion of our volition excites many other ideas, and is attended 
with pleasurable sensation; which constitutes the sentiment of novelty. 
But when the object of novelty stimulates us so forcibly as suddenly 
to disunite our passing trains of ideas, as if a pistol be unexpectedly 
discharged, the emotion of surprise is experienced; which by excit- 
ing violent irritation and violent sensation, employs for a time the 
whole sensorial energy, and thus dissevers the passing trains of ideas, 
before the power of volition has time to compare them with the usual 
phenomena of nature; but as the painful emotion of fear is then gene- 
rally added to that of surprise, as every one experiences, who hears a 
noise in the dark, which he cannot immediately account for; this 
great degree of novelty, when it produces much surprise, generally 
ceases to be pleasurable, and does not then belong to objects of taste. 

Tn its less degree surprise is generally agreeable, as it simply 



Analysis of Taste. 83 

expresses the sentiment occasioned by the novelty of our ideas; as in 
common language we say, we are agreeably surprised at the unex- 
pected meeting with a friend, which not only expresses the sentiment 
of novelty, but also the pleasure from other agreeable ideas associated 
with the object of it. 

It must appear from hence, that different persons must be affected 
more or less agreeably by different degrees or quantities of novelty in 
the objects of taste; according to their previous knowledge of nature. 
or their previous habits or opportunities of attending to the fine arts. 
Thus before its nativity the fetus experiences the perceptions of heat 
and cold, of hardness and softness, of motion and rest, with those 
perhaps of hunger and repletion, sleeping and waking, pain and plea- 
sure; and perhaps some other perceptions, which may at this early 
time of its existence have occasioned perpetual trains of ideas. On 
its arrival into the world the perceptions of light and sound must by 
their novelty at first dissever its usual trains of ideas and occasion 
great surprise; which after a few repetitions will cease to be disagree- 
able, and only excite the emotion from novelty, which has not acquired 
a separate name, but is in reality a less degree of surprise ; and by 
further experience the sentiment of novelty, or any degree of surprise, 
will cease to be excited by the sounds or sights, which at first excited 
perhaps a painful quantity of surprise. 

It should here be observed, that as the pleasure of novelty is pro- 
duced by the exertion of our voluntary power in comparing uncom- 
mon objects with those which are more usually exhibited; this senti- 
ment of novelty is less perceived by those Avdio do not readily use the 
faculty of volition, or who have little previous knowledge of nature, 
as by very ignorant or very stupid people, or by brute animals; and 
that therefore to be affected with this circumstance of the objects of 
Taste requires some previous knowledge of such kinds of objects, and 
come degree of mental exertion. 

Hence when a greater variety of objects than usual is presented 
to the eye, or when some intricacy of forms, colours, or reciprocal 
locality more than usual accompanies them, it is termed novelty if it 
only excites the exertion of intuitive comparison with the usual order 
-of nature, and affects us with pleasurable sensation; but is termed 



84 Additional Notes. 

surprise, if it suddenly dissevers our accustomed habits of motion, 
and is then more generally attended with disagreeable sensation. To 
this circumstance attending objects of taste is to be referred what 
is termed wild and irregular in landscapes, in contradistinction to the 
repetition of parts or uniformity spoken of below. We may add, that 
novelty of notes and tones in music, or of their combinations or suc- 
cessions, are equally agreeable to the ear, as the novelty of forms and 
colours, and of their combinations or successions are to the eye ; but 
that the greater quantity or degree of novelty, the sentiment of which 
is generally termed Surprise, is more frequently excited by unusual 
or unexpected sounds ; which are liable to alarm us with fear, as well 
as surprise us with novelty. 



Repetition of visible objects* 

The repeated excitement of the same or similar ideas with certain 
intervals of time, or distances of space between them, is attended with 
agreeable sensations, besides that simply of perception; and, though 
it appears to be diametrically opposite to the pleasure arising from the 
novelty of objects above treated of, enters into the compositions of all 
the agreeable arts. 

The pleasure arising from the repetition of similar ideas with cer-* 
tain intervals of time or distances of space between them is a subject 
of great metaphysical curiosity, as well as the source of the pleasure 
derived from novelty, which will I hope excuse its introduction in 
this place. 

The repetitions of motions may be at first produced either by vo- 
lition, or by sensation, or by irritation, but they soon become easier 
to perforin than any other kinds of action, because they soon become 
associated together; and thus their frequency of repetition, if as 
much sensorial power be produced during every reiteration, as is ex- 
pended, adds to the facility of their production. 

If a stimulus be repeated at uniform intervals of time, the action, 
whether of our muscles or organs of sense, is produced with still 
greater facility or energy; because the sensorial power of association, 



Analysis of Taste. 8.5 

mentioned above, is combined with the sensorial power of irritation ; 
that is in common language, the acquired habit assists the power of 
the stimulus. 

This not only obtains in the annual, lunar, and diurnal catena- 
tions of animal motions, as explained in Zoonomia, Sect. XXXVI. 
which are thus performed with great facility and energy; but in every 
less circle of actions or ideas, as in the burden of a song, or the re- 
iterations of a dance. To the facility and distinctness, with which 
we hear sounds at repeated intervals, we owe the pleasure, which we 
receive from musical time, and from poetic time, as described in 
Botanic Garden, V. II. Interlude III. And to this the pleasure we 
receive from the rhimes and alliterations of modern versification; the 
source of which without this key would be difficult to discover. 

There is no variety of notes referable to the gamut in the beating of 
a drum, yet if it be performed in musical time, it is agreeable to our 
ears; and therefore this pleasurable sensation must be owing to the 
repetition of the divisions of the sounds at certain intervals of time, or 
musical bars. Whether these times or bars are distinguished by a 
pause, or by an emphasis, or accent, certain it is, that this distinc- 
tion is perpetually repeated; otherwise the ear could not determine 
instantly, whether the successions of sound were in common or in 
triple time. 

But besides these little circles of musical time, there are the greater 
returning periods, and the still more distinct chorusses; which, like 
the rhimes at the end of verses, owe their beauty to repetition; that 
is, to the facility and distinctness with which we perceive sounds, 
which we expect to perceive or have perceived before ; or in the lan- 
guage of this work, to the greater ease and energy Avith which our 
organ is excited by the combined sensorial powers of association and 
irritation, than by the latter singly. 

This kind of pleasure arising from repetition, that is from the fa- 
cility and distinctness with which we perceive and understand repeated 
sensations, enters into all the agreeable arts; and wlien it is carried to 
excess is termed formality. The art of dancing like that of music de- 
pends for a great part of the pleasure, it affords, on repetition; archi- 
tecture, especially the Grecian, consists of one part being a repetition 



86 Additional Notes. 

of another,- and hence the beauty of the pyramidal outline in land- 
scape-painting; where one side of the picture may be said in some 
measure to balance the other. So universally does repetition contri- 
bute to our pleasure in the fine arts, that beauty itself has been de- 
fined by some writers to consist in a due combination of uniformity 
and variety: Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXII. 2. 1. 

Where these repetitions of form, and reiterations of colour, are 
produced in a picture or a natural landscape, in an agreeable quan- 
tity, it is termed simplicity, or unity of character; where the repetition 
principally is seen in the disposition or locality of the divisions, it is 
called symmetry, proportion, or grouping the separate parts; where 
this repetition is most conspicuous in the forms of visible objects, it is 
called regularity or uniformity; and where it affects the colouring 
principally, the artists call it breadth of colour. 

There is nevertheless, an excess of the repetition of the same or 
similar ideas, which ceases to please, and must therefore be excluded 
from compositions of Taste in painted landscapes, or in ornamented 
gardens; which is then called formality, monotony, or insipidity. 
Why the excitation of ideas should give additional pleasure by the 
-facility and distinctness of their production for a certain time, and 
then cease to give additional pleasure ; and gradually to give less plea- 
sure than that, which attends simple exertion of them; is another 
•curious metaphysical problem, and deserves investigation. 

In our waking hours a perpetual voluntary exertion, of which we 
are unconscious, attends all our new trains of ideas, whether those of 
imagination or of perception; which by comparing them with our 
former experience preserves the consistency of the former, by reject- 
ing such as are incongruous; and adds to the credibility of the latter, 
by their analogy to objects of our previous knowledge : and this ex- 
ertion is attended with pleasurable sensation. After very frequent 
repetition these trains of ideas do not excite the exertion of "this in- 
tuitive analogy, and in consequence are not attended with additional 
pleasure to that simply of perception; and by continued repetition 
they at length lose even the pleasure simply of perception, and thence 
finally cease to be excited; whence one cause of the torpor of old age, 
und of death, as spoken of in'Additional Note, No. VII. 3. of this work. 



Analysis of Taste. 87 

When there exists in any landscape a certain number and diversity 
of forms and colours, or of their combinations or successions, so as to 
produce a degree of novelty; and that with a certain repetition, or 
arrangement of parts, so as to render them gradually comprehensible 
or easily compared with the usual course of nature; if this agreeable 
combination of visible objects be on a moderate scale, in respect to 
magnitude, and form the principal part of the landscape, it is termed 
Picturesque by modern artists; and when such a combination of 
forms and colours contains many easy flowing curves and smooth sur- 
faces, the delightful sentiment of Beauty becomes added to the plea- 
sure of the Picturesque. 

If the above agreeable combination of novelty and repetition ex- 
ists on a larger scale with more projecting rocks, and deeper dells, and 
perhaps with a somewhat greater proportion of novelty than repetition, 
the landscape assumes the name of Romantic ; and if some of these 
forms or combinations are much above the usual magnitude of simi- 
lar objects, the more interesting sentiment of Sublimity becomes 
mixed with the pleasure of the romantic. 



III. Melody of Colours. 

A third source of pleasure arising from the inspection of visible 
objects, besides that of simple perception, arises from what may be 
termed melody of colours, as certain colours are more agreeable, 
when they succeed each other; or when they are disposed in each 
other's vicinity, so as successively to afreet the organ of vision. 

In a paper on the colours seen in the eye after looking for some 
time on luminous objects, published by Dr. Darwin of Shrewsbury in 
the Philos. Trans. Vol. 76, it is evidently shown, that we see certain 
colours not only with greater ease and distinctness, but with relief 
and pleasure, after having for some time inspected other certain 
colours; as green after red, or red after green; orange after blue, or 
blue after orange; yellow after violet, or violet after yellow; this, he 
shows, arises from the ocular spectrum of the colour last viewed coin- 
ciding with the irritation of the colour now under contemplation. 



,88 Additional Notes. 

Thus if you make a dot with ink in the centre of a circle of red silk 
the size of a letter-wafer, and place it on a sheet of white paper, and 
look on it for a minute without moving your eyes; and then gently 
turn them on the white paper in its vicinity, or gently close them, and 
hold one hand an inch or two before them, to prevent too much light 
from passing through the eyelids, a circular spot of pale green will 
be seen on the white paper, or in the closed eye; which is called the 
ocular spectrum of the red silk, and is formed as Dr. Darwin shows 
by the pandiculation or stretching of the fine fibrils, which constitute 
the extremities of the optic nerve, in a direction contrary to that, in 
which they have been excited by previously looking at a luminous 
object, till they become fatigued ; like the yawning or stretching of 
the larger muscles after acting long in one direction. 

If at tfiis time the eye, fatigued by looking long at the centre of 
the red silk, be turned on paper previously coloured with pale green; 
the circular spot or ocular spectrum will appear of a much darker 
green; as now the irritation from the pale green paper coincides with 
the pale green spectrum remaining in the eye, and thus excites those 
fibres of the retina into stronger action; on this account some colours 
are seen more distinctly, and consequently more agreeably after others ; 
or when placed in the vicinity of others; thus if orange-coloured 
letters are painted on a blue ground, they may be read at as great 
distance as black on white, perhaps at a greater. 

The colours, which are thus more distinct when seen in succession 
are called opposite colours by Sir Isaac Newton in his optics, Book I. 
Part 2, and may be easily discovered by any one, by the method 
above described; that is by laying a coloured circle of paper or silk 
on a sheet of white paper, and inspecting it some time with steady 
eyes, and then either gently closing them, or removing them on 
another part of the white paper, and the ocular spectrum or opposite 
colour becomes visible in the eye. 

Sir Isaac Newton has observed, that the breadths of the seven pri- 
mary colours in the sun's image refracted by a prism, are propor- 
tioned to the seven musical notes of the gamut, or to the intervals of 
the eight sounds contained in an octave. 

From this curious coincidence, it has been proposed to produce a 



Analysis of Taslt. 8J4 

luminous music, consisting; of successions or combinations of colour-, 
analogous to a tune in respect to the proportions above mentioned. 
This might be performed by a strong light, made by means of 
Mr. Argand's lamps, passing through coloured glasses, and falling on 
a defined part of the wall, with moveable blinds before them, which 
might communicate with the keys of a harpsichord, and thus produce 
at the same time visible and audible music in unison with each other. 

Now as the pleasure we receive from the sensation of melodious 
notes, independent of musical time, and of the previous associations 
( ©f agreeable ideas with them, must arise from our hearing some pro- 
portions of sounds after others more easily, distinctly, or agreeably; 
and as there is a coincidence between the proportions of the primary 
colours, and the primary sounds, if they may be so called ; the same 
laws must probably govern the sensations of both. In this circum- 
stance therefore consists the sisterhood of Music and Painting; and 
hence they claim a right to borrow metaphors from each other: mu- 
sicians to speak of the brilliancy of sounds, and the light and shade 
of a concerto; and painters of the harmony of colours, and the tone 
of a picture. 

This source of pleasure received from the melodious succession of 
colours or of sounds must not be confounded with the pleasure received 
from the repetition of them explained above, though the repetition, 
or division of musical notes into tars, so as to produce common or 
triple time, contributes much to the pleasure of music; but in view- 
ing a fixed landscape nothing like musical time exists; and the plea- 
sure received therefore from certain successions of colours must de- 
pend only on the more easy or distinct action of the retina in perceiv- 
ing some colours after others, or in their vicinity, like the facility or 
even pleasure with which we act with contrary muscles in yawning or 
stretching after having been fatigued with a long previous exertiou 
in the contrary direction. 

Hence where colours are required to be distinct, those which are 
opposite to each other, should be brought into succession or vicinity ; 
as red and green, orange and blue, yellow and violet; but where 
colours are required to intermix imperceptibly, or slide into each 
other, these should not be chosen; as they might by contrast appear 

N 



90 Additional Notes.. 

too glaring or tawdry. These gradations and contrasts of colours 
have been practically employed both by the painters of landscape, and 
by the planters of ornamental gardens; though the theory of this part 
of the pleasure derived from visible objects was not explained before 
the publication of the paper on ocular spectra above mentioned; which 
is reprinted at the end of the first part of Zoonomia, and has thrown 
great light on the actions of the nerves of sense in consequence of the 
stimulus of external bodies. 



IV. Association of agreeable sentiments with visible objects. 

Besides the pleasure experienced simply by the perception of visible 
objects, it has been already shown, that there is an additional plea' 
sure arising from the inspection of those, which possess novelty, or 
some degree of it ; a second additional pleasure from those, which 
possess in some degree, a repetition of their parts; and a third from 
those, which possess a succession of particular colours,, which either 
contrast or slide into each other, and which we have termed melody 
of colours. 

We now step forward to the fourth source of the pleasures arising 
from the contemplation of visible objects besides that simply of' per- 
ception, which consists in our previous association of some agreeable 
sentiment with certain forms or combinations of them. These four 
kinds of pleasure singly or in -combination constitute what is generally 
understood by the word Taste in respect to the visible world; and by 
parity of reasoning it is probable, that the pleasurable ideas received 
by the other senses, or which are associated with language, may. be 
traced to similar sources, 

It has been shown by Bishop Berkeley, in his ingenious essay on 
vision, that the eye only acquaints us with the perception of light 
and colours; and that our idea of the solidity of the bodies, which re- 
flect them, is learnt by the organ of touch: he therefore calls our 
vision the language of touch, observing that certain gradations of the 
shades of colour, by our previous experience of having examined 
similar bodies by our hands or lips, suggest our ideas of solidity, and 



Analysis of Taste. y 1 

of the forms of solid bodies; as when we view a tree, it would other- 
wise appear to us a flat green surface, but by association of ideas we 
know it to be a cylindrical stem with round branches. This association 
of the ideas acquired by the sense of touch with those of vision, we 
do not allude to in the following observations, but to the agreeable 
trams or tribes of ideas and sentiments connected with certain kinds 
of visible objects. 



Sentiment of Beauty. 

Of these catenations of sentiments with visible objects, the first is 
the sentiment of Beauty or Loveliness; which is suggested by easy- 
flowing curvatures of surface, with smoothness; as is so well illustrated 
in Mr. Burke's Essay on the Sublime ami Beautiful, and in Mr. Ho- 
garth's analysis of Beauty; a new edition of which is much wanted 
separate from his other works. 

The sentiment of Beauty appears to be attached from our cradles 
to the easy curvatures of lines, and smooth surfaces of visible objects, 
and to have been derived from the form of the female bosom; as 
spoken of in Zoonomia, Vol. I. Section XVI. on Instinct. 

Sentimental love, as distinguished from the animal passion of that 
name, with which it is frequently accompanied, consists in the desire 
or sensation of beholding, embracing, and saluting, a beautiful 
object. 

The characteristic of beauty therefore is that it is the object of love; 
and though many other objects are in common language called beau- 
tiful, yet they are only called so metaphorically, and ought to be 
termed agreeable. A Grecian temple may give us the pleasurable 
idea of sublimity; a Gothic temple may give us the pleasurable idea 
of variety; and a modern house the pleasurable idea of utility; music 
and poetry may inspire our love by association of ideas; but none of 
these, except metaphorically, can be termed beautiful; as we have no 
wish to embrace or salute them. 

Our perception of beauty consists in our recognition by the sense 
of vision of those objects, first which have before inspired our love by 



92 Additional Notes. 

the pleasure, which they have afforded to many of our senses : as to 
our sense of warmth, of touch, of smell, of taste, hunger and thirst ; 
and secondly, which bear any analogy of form to such objects. 

When the babe, soon after it is born into this cold world, is ap- 
plied to its mother's bosom, its sense of perceiving warmth is first 
agreeably affected; next its sense of smell is delighted with the odour 
of her milk; then its taste is gratified by the flavour of it, after- 
wards the appetites of hunger and of thirst afford pleasure by the pos- 
session of their objects, and by the subsequent digestion of the ali- 
ment; and lastly, the sense of touch is delighted by the softness and 
smoothness of the milky fountain, the source^of such variety of hap- 
piness. 



93 

ADDITIONAL NOTES. XIV. 
THE THEORY AND STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE. 

Next to each thought associate sound accords, 

And forms the dulcet symphony of words. Canto III. 1. 365. 

Ideas consist of synchronous motions or configurations of the 
extremities of the organs of sense; these when repeated hy sensation, 
volition, or association, are either simple or complex, as they were 
first excited by irritation ; or have afterwards some parts abstracted 
from them, or some parts added to them. Language consists of 
words, which are the names or symbols of ideas. Words are there- 
fore properly all of them nouns or names of things. 

Little had been done in the investigation of the theory of language 
from the time of Aristotle to the present agra, till Mr. Home Tooke, 
the ingenious and learned author of the Diversions of Purley, ex- 
plained those undeclined Avords of all languages, which had puzzled 
the grammarians, and evinced from their etymology, that they were 
abbreviations of other modes of expression. Mr. Tooke observes, 
that the first aim of language was to communicate our thoughts, and 
the second to do it with dispatch; and hence he divides words into 
those, which were necessary to express our thoughts, and those which 
are abbreviations of the former; which he ingeniously styles the 
wings of Hermes. 

For the greater dispatch of conversation many words suggest more 
than one idea; I shall therefore arrange them according to the num- 
ber and kinds of ideas, which they suggest; and am induced to do 
this, as a new distribution of the objects of any science may advance 
the knowledge of it by developing another analogy of its constituent 
parts. And in thus endeavouring to analyze the theory of language 
I mean to speak primarily of the English, and occasionally to add 
what may occur concerning the structure of the Greek and Latin. 



:94 Additional Notes. 



I. Conjunctions and Prepositions. 

The first class of words consists of those, which suggest but one 
idea, and suffer no change of termination; which have been termed 
'by grammarians Conjunctions and Prepositions; the former of 
which connect sentences, and the latter words. Both which have 
been ingeniously explained by Mr. Home Tooke from their etymology 
to be abbreviations of other modes of expression. 

1. Thus the conjunction if and an, are shown by Mr. Tooke to be 
derived from the imperative mood of the verbs to give and to grant; 
but both of these conjunctions by long use appear to have become 
the name of a more abstracted idea, than the words give or grant 
suggest, as they do not now express any ideas of person, or of num- 
ber, or of time; all which are generally attendant upon the meaning 
of a verb; and perhaps all the words of this class are the names of 
ideas much abstracted, which has ^caused the difficulty of explaining 
them. 

2. The number of Prepositions is very great ku the English lan- 
guage, as they are used before the. cases of nouns, and the infinitive 
mood of verbs, instead of the numerous changes of termination of the 
nouns and verbs of the Greek and Latin; which gives greater sim- 
plicity to our language, and greater facility of acquiring it. 

The prepositions, as well as the preceding conjunctions, have been 
well explained by Mr. Home Tooke; who has developed the etymo- 
logy of many of them. As the greatest number of the ideas, we 
receive from external objects, are complex ones, the names of these 
constitute a great part of language, as the proper names of persons 
and places; which are complex terms. Now as these complex terms 
do not always exactly suggest the quantity of combined ideas we 
mean to express, some of the prepositions are prefixed to them to add 
or to deduct something, or to limit their general meaning; as a house 
with a party wall, or a. house without a roof. These words are also 
derived by Mr. Tooke, as abbreviations of the imperative moods of 
verbs; but which appear now to suggest ideas further abstracted than 
those generally suggested by verbs, and are all of them properly 
nouns, or names of ideas. 



The Theory and Structure of Language. 95 

II. Noitns Substajitive. 

The second class of words consists of those, which in their simplest 
state suggest but one idea, as the word man; but which by two changes 
of termination in our language suggest one secondary idea of number^ 
as the word men; or another secondary idea of the genitive case, as 
man's mind, or the mind of man. These words by other changes of 
termination in the Greek and Latin languages suggest many other 
secondary ideas, as of gender, as Avell as of number, and of all the 
other cases described in their grammars; which in- English, are ex- 
pressed by prepositions. 

This class of- words inclucles the Nouns-Substantive, or name* 
of things,- of common grammars, and may be conveniently divided 
into three kinds. 1. Those which suggest the ideas of things believed 
to possess hardness and figure, as a house or a horse. 2. Those which 
suggest the ideas of things, which are not supposed to possess hardness 
and figure, except metaphorically, as virtue, wisdom; which have 
therefore been termed abstracted ideas. 3. Those which have been 
called by metaphysical writers reflex ideas, and mean those of the 
operations of the mind, as sensation, volition, association. 

Another convenient-division of these nouns substantive or names 
of things may be first into general terms, or the names of classes of 
ideas, as man, quadruped, bird, fish, animal. 2. Into the names of 
complex ideas, as this house, that dog. 3. Into the names of simple 
ideas, as whiteness, sweetness. 

A third convenient division of the names of things may be into 
the names of intire things, whether of real or imaginary being; these 
are, the nouns substantive of grammars. 2. Into the names of the 
qualities or properties of the former; these are the nouns adjective of 
grammars. 3. The names of more abstracted ideas as the coniunc- 
tions and prepositions .of grammarians. 

These nouns substantive,, or names of intire things, suggest but 
one idea in their simplest form, as in the nominative ease singular of 
grammars. As the word a stag is the name of a single complex idea; 
but the word stags by a change of termination adds to this a secondary 



'Q 6 Additional Notes. 

idea of number; and the word stag's, with a comma before the final s, 
suggests, in English, another secondary idea of something appertaining 
to the stag', as a stag's horn; which is, however, in our language, as 
frequently expressed by the preposition of as the horn of a stag. 

In the Greek and Latin languages an idea of gender is joined with 
the rames of intire things, as well as of number; but in the English 
language the nouns, Avhich express inanimate objects, have no genders 
except metaphorically; and even the sexes of many animals have 
names so totally different from each other, that they rather give an 
idea of the individual creature than of the sex, as bull and cow, horse 
and mare, boar and sow, dog and bitch. This constitutes another 
circumstance, which renders our language more simple, and more 
easy to acquire; and at the same time contributes to the poetic ex- 
cellence of it; as by adding a masculine or feminine pronoun, as he, 
or she, other nouns substantive are so readily personified. 

In the Latin language there are five cases besides the nominative, 
or original word, and in the Greek four. Whence the original noun 
substantive by change of its termination suggests a secondary idea 
either corresponding with the genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, 
or ablative cases, besides the secondary ideas of number and gender 
above mentioned. The ideas suggested by these changes of termina- 
tion, which are termed cases, are explained in the grammars of these 
languages, and are expressed in ours by prepositions, which are called 
the signs of those cases. 

Thus the word Domini, of the Lord, suggests beside the primary 
idea a secondary one of something appertaining to it, as templum 
domini, the temple of the Lord, or the Lord's temple; which in 
English is either effected by an addition of the letter s, with a comma 
before it, or by the preposition of. This genitive case is said to be 
expressed in the Hebrew language simply by the locality of the words 
in succession to each other; which must so far add to the conciseness 
of that language. 

Thus the word Domino, in the dative case, to the Lord, suggests 
besides the primary idea a secondary one of something being added 
to the primary one; which is effected in English by the preposition to. 

The accusative case, orDominum, besides the primary idea implies 



The Theory and Structure of Language. \fi 

something having acted upon the object of that primary idea; as felis 
edit murem, the cat eats the mouse. This is thus effected in the 
Greek and Latin by a change of termination of the noun acted upon, 
but is managed in a more concise Avay in our language by its situation 
in the sentence, as it follows the verb. Thus if the mouse in the 
above sentence M'as placed before the verb, and the cat after it, in 
English the sense would be inverted, but not so in Latin; this neces- 
sity of generally placing the accusative case after the verb is incon- 
venient in poetry; though it adds to the conciseness and simplicity 
of our language, as it saves the intervention of a preposition, or of a 
change of termination. 

The vocative case of the Latin language, or Domine, besides the 
primary idea suggests a secondary one of appeal, or address; which 
in our language is either marked by its situation in the sentence, or 
by the preposition O preceding it. Whence this interjection O con- 
veys the idea of appeal joined to the subsequent noun, and is there- 
fore properly another noun, or name of an idea, preceding the prin- 
cipal one like other prepositions. 

The ablative case in the Latin language, as Domino, suggests a 
secondary idea of something being deducted from or by the primary 
one. Which is perhaps more distinctly expressed by one of those 
prepositions in ourlanguage; which, as it suggests somewhat concern- 
ing the adjoined noun, is properly another noun, or name of an idea, 
preceding the principal one. 

When to these variations of the termination of nouns in the 
singular number are added those equally numerous of the plural, and 
the great variety of these terminations correspondent to the three 
genders, it is evident that the prepositions of our own and other 
modern languages instead of the changes of termination add to the 
simplicity of these languages, and to the facility of acquiring them. 

Hence in the Latin language, besides the original or primary idea 
suggested by each noun substantive, or name of an entire tiling, there 
attends an additional idea of number, another of gender, and another 
suggested by each change of termination, which constitutes the cases; 
so that in this language four ideas are suggested at the same time by 
one word; as the primary idea, its gender, number, and case; the 

O 



98 Additional Notes. 

latter of which has also four or five varieties. These nouns therefore 
may properly be termed the abbreviation of sentences; as the conr 
junctions and prepositions are termed by Mr. Tooke the abbreviation 
of words; and if the latter are called the wings affixed to the feet of 
Hermes, the former may be called the wings affixed to his cap. 



III. Adjectives, Articles, Participles, Adverbs. 

1. The third class of words consists of those, which in their sim- 
plest form suggest two ideas; one of them is an abstracted idea of the 
quality of an object, but not of the object itself; and the other is an 
abstracted idea of its appertaining to some other noun called a sub- 
stantive, or a name of an entire thing. 

These words are termed Adjectives, are undeclined in our lan- 
guage in respect to cases, number, or gender; but by three changes 
of termination they suggest the secondary ideas of greater, greatest, 
and of less ; as the word sweet changes into sweeter, sweetest, and 
sweetish ; which may be termed three degrees of comparison besides the 
positive meaning of the word ; which terminations of er and est are 
seldom added to words of more than two syllables; as those degrees 
are then most frequently denoted by the prepositions more and most. 

Adjectives seem originally to have been derived from nouns sub- 
stantive, of which they express a quality, as a musky rose, a beautiful 
lady, a stormy day. Some of them are formed from the correspondent 
substantive by adding the syllable ly, or like, as a lovely child, a war- 
like countenance; and in our language it is frequently only necessary 
to put a hyphen between two nouns substantive for the purpose of 
converting the former one into an adjective, as an eagle-eye, a May- 
day. And many of our adjectives are substantives unchanged, and 
only known by their situation in a sentence, as a German, or a Ger- 
man gentleman. Adjectives therefore are names of qualities, or parts 
of things; as substantives are the names of entire things. 

In the Latin and Greek languages these adjectives possess a great 
variety of terminations ; which suggest occasionally the ideas of 
number, gender, and the various cases, agreeing in all these with the 



The Theory and Structure of Language. 99 

substantive, to which they belong; besides the two original or pri- 
mary ideas of quality, and of their appertaining to some other \\ ord, 
which must be adjoined to make them sense. Insomuch that some 
of these adjectives, when declined through all their cases, and genders, 
and numbers, in their positive, comparative, and superlative degrees, 
enumerate fifty or sixty terminations. All which to one, who wishes 
to learn these languages, are so many new words, and add much to 
the difficulty of acquiring them. 

Though the English adjectives are undeclined, having neither 
case, gender, nor number; and with this simplicity of form possess a 
degree of comparison by the additional termination of ish, more than 
the generality of Latin or Greek adjectives, yet are they less adapted 
to poetic measure, as they must accompany their corresponding sub- 
stantives; from which they are perpetually separated in Greek and 
Latin poetry. 

2. There is a second kind of adjectives, which abound in our lan- 
guage, and in the Greek, but not in the Latin, which are called 
Articles by the writers of grammar, as the letter a, and the word 
the. These, like the adjectives above described, suggest two primary 
ideas, and suffer no change of termination in our language, and there- 
fore suggest no secondary ideas. 

Mr. Locke observes, that languages consist principally of general 
terms; as it would have been impossible to give a name to every 
individual object, so as to communicate an idea of it to others; it 
would be like reciting the name of every individual soldier of an 
army, instead of using the general term, army. Now the use of the 
article a, and the in English, and in Greek, converts general terms 
into particular ones; this idea of particularity as a quality, or property 
of a noun, is one of the primary ideas suggested by these articles; 
and the other is, that of its appertaining to some particular noun sub- 
stantive, without which it is not intelligible. In both these respects 
these articles correspond with adjectives; to which may be added, 
that our article a may be expressed by the adjective one or any; and 
that the Greek article is declined like other adjectives. 

The perpetual use of the article, besides its converting general 
terms into particular ones, contributes much to the force and beauty 



100 Additional Notes. 

of our language from another circumstance, that abstracted ideas 
become so readily personified simply by the omission of it; which 
perhaps renders the English language better adapted to poetry than 
any other ancient or modern: the following prosopopoeia from Shak- 
speare is thus beautiful. 

She let Concealment like a worm i' th' bud 
Feed on her damask cheek. 

And the following line, translated from Juvenal by Dr. Johnson, 
is much superior to the original, owing to the easy personification of 
Worth and Poverty, and to the consequent conciseness of it. 

Difficile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat 
Res angusta domi. 

Slow rises Worth by Poverty depress'd. 

3. A third class of adjectives includes what are termed Parti- 
ciples, which are allied to the infinitive moods of verbs, and are 
formed in our language by the addition only of the syllable ing or ed; 
and are of two kinds, active and passive, as loving, loved, from the 
verb to love. The verbs suggest an idea of the noun, or thing spoken 
of; and also of its manner of existence, whether at rest, in action, or 
in being acted upon; as I lie still, or I whip, or I am whipped ; and, 
lastly, another idea of the time of resting, acting, or suffering; but 
these adjectives called participles, suggest only two primary ideas, 
one of the noun, or thing spoken of, and another of the mode of exist- 
ence, but not a third idea of time; and in this respect participles 
differ from the verbs, from which they originate, or which originated 
from them, except in their infinitive moods. 

Nor do they resemble adjectives only in their suggesting but two 
primary ideas; but in the Latin and Greek languages they are de- 
clined through all the cases, genders, and numbers, like other adjec- 
tives; and change their terminations in the degrees of comparison. ' 

In our language the participle passive, joined to the verb to be, for 
the purpose of adding to it the idea of time, forms the whole of the 
passive voice; and is frequently used in a similar manner in the Latin 



The Theory and Structure of Language. ] 1 

language, as I am loved is expressed either by amor, or amatus sum. 
The construction of the whole passive voice from the verb to be and 
the participles passive of other verbs, contributes much to the simpli- 
city of our language, and the ease of acquiring it; but renders it less 
concise than perhaps it might have been by some simple variations of 
termination, as in the active voice of it. 

4. A fourth kind of adjective is called by the grammarians an 
Adverb; which has generally been formed from the first kind of 
adjectives, as these were frequently formed from correspondent sub- 
stantives; or it has been formed from the third kind of adjectives, 
called participles; and this is effected in both cases by the addition 
of the syllable ly, as wisely, charmingly. 

This kind of adjective suggests two primary ideas, like the adjec- 
tives, and participles, from which they are derived; but differ from 
them in this curious circumstance, that the other adjectives relate to 
substantives, and are declined like them in the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages, as a lovely boy, a warlike countenance; but these relate to 
verbs, and are therefore undeclined, as to act boldly, to suffer 
patiently. 



IV. Verbs. 

The fourth class of words consists of those which are termed 
Verbs, and which in their simplest state suggest three ideas ; first an 
idea of the noun, or name of the thing spoken of, as a Avhip. 8. An 
idea of its mode of existence, whether at rest, or in action, or in being- 
acted upon. 3. An idea of the time of its existence. Thus " the 
beadle whipped the beggar," in prolix language might be expressed, 
the beadle with a whip struck in time past the beggar. Which three 
ideas are suggested by the one word whipped. 

Verbs are therefore nouns, or names of intire ideas, with the 
additional ideas of their mode of existence and of time; but the par- 
ticiples suggest only the noun, and the mode of existence, without 
any idea of time; as whipping, or whipped. The infinitive moods of 
verbs correspond in their signification with the participles; as they 



] 02 Additional Notes. 

also suggest only the noun, or name of the thing spoken of, and an idea 
of its mode of existence, excluding the idea of time; which is expressed 
by all the other moods and tenses; whence it appears, that the infini- 
tive mood, as well as the participle, is not truly a part of the verb; 
but as the participle resembles the adjective in its construction; so 
the infinitive mood may be said to resemble the substantive, and it is 
often used as a nominative case to another verb. 

Thus in the words "a charming lady with a smiling countenance," 
the participle acts as an adjective; and in the words " to talk well 
commands attention," the infinitive mood acts as the nominative case 
of a noun substantive; and their respective significations are also 
very similar, as whipping, or to whip, mean the existence of a person 
acting with a whip. 

In the Latin language the verb in its simplest form, except the 
infinitive mood, and the participle, both which we mean to exclude 
from complete verbs, suggests four primary ideas, as amo, suggests 
the pronoun I, the noun love, its existence in its active state, and the 
present time; which verbs in the Greek and Latin undergo an un- 
counted variation of termination, suggesting so many different ideas 
in addition to the four primary ones. 

We do not mean to assert, that all verbs are literally derived from 
nouns in any language ; because all languages have in process of time 
undergone such great variation; many nouns. having become obsolete 
or have perished, and new verbs have been imported from foreign 
languages, or transplanted from ancient ones; but that this has ori- 
ginally been the construction of all verbs, as well as those to whip 
and to love above mentioned, and innumerable others. 

Thus there may appear some difficulty in analyzing from what 
noun substantive were formed the verbs to stand or to lie; because we 
have not properly the name of the abstract ideas from which these 
verbs arose, except we use the same word for the participle and the 
noun substantive, as standing, lying. But the verbs to sit, and to 
walk, are less difficult to trace to their origin; as we have names for 
the nouns substantive, a seat, and a walk. 

But there is another verb of great consequence in all languages, 
which would appear in its simplest form in our language to sug- 



The Theory and Structure of Language. 103 

gest but two primary ideas, as the verb to be, but that it suggests 
three primary ideas like other verbs may be understood, if we use the 
synonimous term to exist instead of to be. Thus " I exist" suggests 
first the abstract idea of existence, not including the mode of exist- 
ence, whether at rest, or in action, or in suffering; secondly it adds 
to that abstracted idea of existence its real state, or actual resting, 
acting, or suffering, existence; and thirdly the idea of the present 
time: thus the infinitive mood to be, and the participle, being, suggest 
both the abstract idea of existence, and the actual state of it, but not 
the time. 

The verb to be is also used irregularly to designate the parts of time 
and actual existence; and is then applied to either the active or passive 
participles of other verbs, and called an auxiliary verb; while the mode 
of existence, whether at rest, or in action, or being acted upon, is ex- 
pressed by the participle, as " I am loving" is nearly the same as " I 
love," amo; and u I am loved," amatus sum, is nearly the same as 
amor. This mode of application of the verb to be is used in French as 
well as in English, and in the passive voice of the Latin, and perhaps 
in many other languages; and is by its perpetual use in conversation 
rendered irregular in them all, as I am, thou art, he is, Mould not 
seem to belong to the infinitive mood to be, anymore than sum, fui, 
sunt, fuerunt, appear to belong to esse. 

The verb to have affords another instance of irregular application; 
the word means in its regular sense to possess, and then suggests three 
ideas like the above verb of existence : first the abstracted idea of 
the thing spoken of, or possession ; secondly, the actual existence 
of possession, and lastly the time, as I have or possess. This verb 
to have like the verb to be is also used irregularly to denote parts 
of past time, and is then joined to the passive participles alone, as I 
have eaten; or it is accompanied with the passive participle of the 
verb to be, and then with the active participle of another verb, as I 
have been eating. 

There is another word xvill used in the same irregular manner to 
denote the parts of future time, which is derived from the verb to will\ 
which in its regular use signifies to exert our volition. There arc 
other words used to express other circumstances attending upon verbs, 



104 Additional Notes. 

as may, can, shall, all which are probably the remains of verbs other- 
wise obsolete. Lastly, when we recollect, that in the moods and 
tenses of verbs one word expresses never less than three ideas in our 
language, and many more in the Greek and Latin; as besides those 
three primary ideas the idea of person, and of number, are always 
expressed in the indicative mood, and other ideas suggested in the 
other moods, we cannot but admire what excellent abbreviations of 
language are thus achieved ; and when we observe the wonderful in- 
tricacy and multiplicity of sounds in those languages, especially in the 
Greek verbs, which change both the beginning and ending of the ori- 
ginal word through three voices, and three numbers, with uncounted 
variations of dialect; we cannot but admire the simplicity' of modern 
languages compared to these ancient ones ; and must finally perceive, 
that all language consists simply of nouns, or names of ideas, disposed 
in succession or in combination, all of which are expressed by sepa- 
rate words, or by various terminations of the same word. 



Conclusion. 

The theory of the progressive production of language in the early 
times of society, and its gradual improvements in the more civilized 
ones, may be readily induced from the preceding pages. In the com- 
mencement of Society the names of the ideas of entire things, which 
it was necessary most frequently to communicate, would first be in- 
vented, as the names of individual persons, or places, fire, water, 
this berry, that root ; as it was necessary perpetually to announce, 
whether one or many of such external things existed, it was soon 
found more convenient to add this idea of number by a change of ter- 
mination of the word, than by the addition of another word. 

As many of these nouns soon became general terms, as bird, beast, 
fish, animal; it was next convenient to distinguish them when used 
for an individual, from the same word used as a general term ; whence 
the two articles a and the, in our language, derive their origin. 

Next to these names of the ideas of entire things, the words most 
perpetually wanted in conversation would probably consist of the 



I 



The Theory and Structure of Language. 1 05 

names of the ideas of the parts or properties of things; which might 
be derived from the names of some things, and applied to others, 
which in these respects resembled them; these are termed adjectives, 
as rosy cheek, manly voice, beastly action; and seem at first to have 
been formed simply by a change of termination of their correspondent 
substantives. The comparative degrees of greater and less were 
found so frequently necessary to be suggested, that a change of ter- 
mination even in our language for this purpose was produced; and is 
as frequently used as an additional word, as wiser or more wise. 

The expression of general similitude, as well as partial similitude- 
becomes so frequently used in conversation, that another kind ot 
adjective, called an adverb, was expressed by a change of term i ra- 
tion, or addition of the syllable ly or like; and as adjectives of the 
former kind are applied to substantives, and express a partial simili- 
tude, these are applied to verbs and express a general similitude, a.« 
to act heroically, to speak boldly, to think freely. 

The perpetual chain of causes and effects, which constitute the 
motions, or changing configurations, of the universe, are so conve- 
niently divided into active and passive, for expressing the exertions 
or purposes of common life, that it became particularly convenient 
in all languages to substitute changes of termination, instead of addi- 
tional nouns, to express, whether the thing spoken of was in a state 
of acting or of being acted upon. This change of termination 
betokening action or suffering constitutes the participle, as loving, 
loved; which, as it expresses a property of bodies, is classed amongst 
adjectives in the preceding pages. 

Besides the perpetual allusions to the active or passive state of 
things, the comparative times of these motions, or changes, were also 
perpetually required to be expressed ; it was therefore found conve- 
nient in all languages to suggest them by changes of terminations in 
preference to doing it by additional nouns. At the same time the 
actual or real existence of the thing spoken of was perpetually re- 
quired, as well as the times of their existence, and the active or pas- 
sive state of that existence. And as no conversation could be carried 
on without unceasingly alluding to these circumstances, they became 
in all languages suggested by changes of termination; which are 

P 



106 Additional Notes. 

termed moods and tenses in grammars, and convert the participle 
above mentioned into a verb; as that participle had originally been 
formed by adding a termination to a noun, as chaining, and chained, 
from chain. 

The great variety of changes of termination in all languages con- 
sists therefore of abbreviations used instead of additional words; and 
adds much to the conciseness of language, and the quickness with 
which we are enabled to communicate our ideas; and may be said 
to add unnumbered wings to every limb of the God of Eloquence. 



107 



ADDITIONAL NOTES. XV. 
ANALYSIS OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 



The tongue, the lips articulate; the throat 

With soft vibration modulates the note. Canto III. 1. 367. 



Having explained in the preceding account of the theory of lan- 
guage that it consists solely of nouns, or the names of ideas, disposed 
in succession or combination ; I shall now attempt to investigate the 
number of the articulate sounds, which constitute those names of 
ideas by their successions and combinations; and to show by what 
parts of the organs of speech they are modulated and articulated; 
whence may be deduced the precise number of letters or symbols 
necessary to suggest those sounds, and form an alphabet, which may 
spell with accuracy the words of all languages. 



I. Imperfections of the present Alphabet. 

It is much to be lamented, that the alphabet, which has produced 
and preserved almost all the improvements in other arts and sciences, 
should have itself received no improvement in modern times; which 
have added so much elucidation to almost every branch of knowledge, 
that can meliorate the condition of humanity. Thus in our present 
alphabets many letters are redundant, others are wanted; some simple 
articulate sounds have two letters to suggest them ; and in other 
instances two articulate sounds are suggested by one letter. Some of 
these imperfections in the alphabet of our own language shall be here 
enumerated. 



TOS Additional Notes. 

X. Thus the letter x is compounded of ks, or of gz, as in the word;* 

excellent, example: eksellent, egzample. 
C. is sometimes k, at other times s, as in the word access. 
G. is a single letter in go; and suggests the letters d and the French 

J in pigeon. 
Qu is kw, as quality is kwality. 
N G in the words long and in king is a simple sound like the French 

n, and wants a new character. 
SH is a simple sound, and Avants a new character. 
TH is either sibilant as in thigh ; or semivocal as in thee; both of 

which are simple sounds, and want two new characters. 
J French exists in our words confu.y/on, and conclusion, judge, pigeon, 

and wants a character. 
J consonant, in our language, expresses the letters d, and the French j 

conjoined, as in John, Djon. 
CH is either k as in Arch-angel, or is used for a sound compounded 

of Tsh, as in Children, Tshildren. 
GL is dl, as Glove is pronounced by polite people dlove. 
CL is tl, as Cloe is pronounced by polite speakers Tloe.. 

The spelling of our language in respect to the pronunciation is. 
also wonderfully defective, though perhaps less so than that of the. 
French; as the words slaughter and laughter are pronounced totally 
different, though spelt alike. The word sough, now pronounced sufF, 
was formerly called sow; whence the iron fused and received into a 
sough acquired the name of sowmetal; and that received into less 
soughs from the former one obtained the name of pigs of iron or of 
lead; from the pun on the word sough, into sow and pigs. Our word 
jealousies contains all the vowels, though three of them only were 
necessary; nevertheless in the two words abstemiously and facetiously 
the vowels exist all of them in their usual order, and are pronounced 
in their most usual manner. 

Some of the vowels of our language are diphthongs, and consist of 
two vocal sounds, or vowels, pronounced in quick succession; these 
diphthongs are discovered by prolonging the sound, and observing, if 
the ending of it be different from the beginning; thus the vowel i in 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 109 

m our language, as in the word high, if drawn out ends in the sound 
of the letter e as used in English; which is expressed by the letter i in 
most other languages: and the sound of this vowel i begins with ah, 
and consists therefore of ah and ee. Whilst the diphthong ou in our 
language, as in the word how, begins with ah also and ends in 00, and 
the vowel u of our language, as in the word use, is likewise a diphthong; 
which begins with e and ends with 00, as eoo. The French u is also 
a diphthong compounded of a and 00, as aoo. And many other defects, 
and redundancies in our alphabet will be seen by perusing the subse- 
quent structure of a more perfect one. 



IT. Production of Sounds: 

By our organ of hearing we perceive the vibrations of the air; 
which vibrations are performed in more or in less time, which conr 
stitutes high or low notes in respect to the gammut; but the tone, 
depends on the kind of instrument which produces them. In speaking, 
of articulate sounds they, may be conveniently divided first into clear 
continued sounds, expressed by the letters called vowels; secondly,. 
Into hissing sounds, expressed by the letters called sibilants ; thirdly, 
Into semivocal sounds, which consist of a mixture of the two former; 
and, lastly, Into interrupted sounds, represented by the letters pro- 
perly termed consonants. 

The clear continued sounds are produced by the 'streams of air 
passing from the lungs in respiration through the larynx; which is 
furnished with many small muscles, Which by their action give a proper 
tension to the extremity of this tube; and the sounds, I suppose, are 
produced by the opening and closing of its aperture; something like 
the trumpet stop of an organ, as may be observed by blowing through 
the M'ind-pipe of a dead goose. 

These sounds would all be nearly similar except in their being 
an octave or two higher or lower; but they are modulated again, 
or acquire various tones, in their passage through the mouth ; 
which thus converts them into eight vowels, as will be explained 
below. 



110 Additional Notes. 

The hissing sounds are produced by air forcibly pushed through 
certain passages of the mouth Avithout being previously rendered sono^ 
rous by the larynx ; and obtain their sibilancy from their slower vibra- 
tions, occasioned by the mucous membrane, which lines those aper- 
tures or passages, being less tense than that of the larynx. I suppose 
the stream of air is in both cases frequently interrupted by the closing 
of the sides or mouth of the passages or aperture; but that this is 
performed much slower in the production of sibilant sounds, than in 
the production of clear ones. 

The semivocal sounds are produced by the stream of air having re- 
ceived quick vibrations, or clear sound, in passing through the larynx, 
or in the cavity of the mouth; but a part of it, as the outsides of this 
sonorous current of air, afterwards receives slower vibrations, or 
hissing sound, from some other passages of the lips or mouth, through 
which it then flows. Lastly the stops, or consonants, impede the 
current of air, whether sonorous or sibilant, for a perceptible time; 
and probably produce some change of tone in the act of opening and 
closing their apertures. 

There are other clear sounds besides those formed by the larynx; 
some of them are formed in the mouth, as may be heard previous to 
the enunciation of the letters b, and d, and ga; or during the pronun- 
ciation of the semivocal letters, v. z. j. and others in sounding the 
liquid letters r and 1 ; these sounds we shall term orisonance. The 
other clear sounds are formed in the nostrils, as in pronouncing the 
liquid letters m. n. and ng. these we shall term narisonance\ 

Thus the clear sounds, except those above mentioned, are formed 
in the larynx along with the musical height or lowness of note ; but 
receive afterward a variation of tone from the various passages of the 
mouth : add to these that as the sibilant sounds consist of vibrations 
slower than those formed by the larynx, so a wbistling through the 
lips consists of vibrations quicker than those formed by the larynx. 

As all sound consists in the vibrations of the air, it may not be 
disagreeable to the reader to attend to the immediate causes of those 
vibrations. When any sudden impulse is given to an elastic fluid like 
the air, it acquires a progressive motion of the whole, and a conden- 
sation of the constituent particles, which first receive the impulse; on 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 1 ] 1 

this account the currents of the atmosphere in stormy seasons are 
never regular, but blow and cease to blow by intervals; as a part 
of the moving stream is condensed by the projectile force; and 
tbe succeeding part, being consequently rarefied, requires some time 
to recover its density, and to follow the former part: this elasticity of 
the air is likewise the cause of innumerable eddies in it; which are 
much more frequent than in streams of water; as when it is impelled 
against any oblique plane, it results with its elastic force added to its 
progressive one. 

Hence when a vacuum is formed in the atmosphere, the sides of 
the cavity forcibly rush together both by the general pressure of the 
superincumbent air, and by the expansion of the elastic particles of 
it; and thus produce a vibration of the atmosphere to a considerable 
distance : this occurs, whether this vacuity of air be occasioned by 
the discharge of cannon, in which the air is displaced by the sudden 
evolution of heat, which as suddenly vanishes; or whether the vacuity 
be left by a vibrating string, as it returns from each side of the arc, 
in which it vibrates; or whether it be left under the lid of the valve 
in the trumpet stop of an organ, or of a child's play trumpet, which 
continues perpetually to open and close, when air is blown through 
it; which is caused by the elasticity of the currents, as it occasions 
the pausing gusts of wind mentioned above. 

Hence when a quick current of air is suddenly broken by any in- 
tervening body, a vacuum is produced by the momentum of the pro- 
ceeding current, between it and the intervening body; as beneath 
the valve of the trumpet-stop above mentioned; and a vibration is in 
consequence produced; which with the great facility, which elastic 
fluids possess of forming eddies, may explain the production of sounds 
by blowing through a fissure upon a sharp edge in a common organ- 
pipe or child's whistle; which has always appeared difficult to resolve; 
for the less vibration an organ-pipe itself possesses, the more agreeable, 
I am informed, is the tone; as the tone is produced by the vibration 
of the air in the organ pipe, and not by that of the sides of it; though 
the latter, when it exists, may alter the tone though not the note, 
like the belly of a harpsichord, or violin. 

When a stream of air is blown on the edge of the aperture of an 



1 1 2 Additional Notes. 

organ-pipe about two thirds of it are believed to pass on the outside of 
this edge, and one third to pass on the inside of it; but this current of 
air on the inside forms an eddy, whether the bottom of the pipe be 
closed or not; which eddy returns upwards, and strikes by quick in- 
tervals against the original stream of air, as it falls on the edge, of the 
aperture, and forces outwards this current of air with quick repetitions, 
so as to make more than two thirds of it, and less than two thirds al- 
ternately pass on the outside; whence a part of this stream of air, on 
each side of the edge of the aperture is perpetually stopped by that 
edge; and thus a vacuum and vibration inconsequence, are recipro- 
cally produced on each side of the edge of the aperture. 

The quickness or slowness of these vibrations constitute the higher 
and lower notes of music, but they all of them are propagated to dis- 
tant places in the same time; as the low notes of a distant ring of 
bells are heard in equal times with the higher ones : hence in speak- 
ing at a distance from the auditors, the clear sounds produced in the 
larynx by the quick vibrations of its aperture, which form the vowels; 
the tremulous sounds of the L. R. M. N. NG. which are owing to 
vibrations of certain apertures of the mouth and nose, and are so slow, 
that the intervals between them are perceived; the sibilant sounds, 
which I suppose are occasioned by the air not rushing into a complete 
vacuum, whence the vibrations produced are defective in velocity; and 
lastly the very high notes made by the quickest vibrations of the lips 
in whistling; are all heard in due succession without confusion; as 
the progressive motions of all sounds I believe travel with equal velo- 
city, notwithstanding the greater or less quickness of their vibrations. 



III. Structure eF the Alphabet. 

Mute and antesonant Consonants, and nasal Liquids. 

V. If the lips be pressed close together and some air be condensed 
in the mouth behind them, on opening the lips the mute con- 
sonant P begins a syllable ; if the lips be closed suddenly during 
the passage of a current of air through them, the air becomes 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 1 1 3 

condensed in the mouth behind them, and the mute consonant 
P terminates a syllable. 

B. If in the above situation of the lips a sound is previously pro- 
duced in the mouth, which may be termed orisonance, the semi- 
sonant consonant B is produced, which like the letter P above 
described may begin or terminate a syllable. 

M. In the above situation of the lips, if a sound is produced through 
the nostrils, which sound is termed narisonance, the nasal 
letter M is formed; the sound of which may be lengthened in 
pronunciation like those of the vowels. 

T. If the point of the tongue be applied to the forepart of the palate, 
at the roots of the upper teeth, and some air condensed in the 
mouth behind, on withdrawing the tongue downwards the mute 
consonant T is formed; which may begin or terminate a syllable. 

D. If the tongue be placed as above described, and a sound be pre- 
viously produced in the mouth, the semisonant consonant D is 
formed, which may begin or terminate a syllable. 

N. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a sound be 
produced through the nostrils, the nasal letter N is formed, the 
sound of which mav be elongated like those of the vowels. 

K. If the point of the tongue be retracted, and applied to the mid- 
dle part of the palate; and some air condensed in the mouth 
behind; on withdrawing the tongue downwards the mute con- 
1 ' sonant K is produced, which may begin or terminate a syllable. 
Ga. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a sound be 
previously produced in the mouth behind, the semisonant con- 
sonant G is formed, as pronounced in the word go, and may 
begin or terminate a syllable. 

NG. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a sound be pro- 
duced through the nostrils; the nasal letter n g is produced, 
as in king and throng; which is thefrench n, the sound of which 
may be elongated like a vowel; and should have an appropriated 

character, as thus <v. 

Three of these letters, P, T, K, are stops to the stream of vocal air, 
and are called mutes by grammarians; three, B, D, Ga, are preceded by 
a little orisonance; and three, M, N, NG, possess continued nariso- 
nance, and have been called liquids by grammarians. 

Q 



1 1 4 Additional Notes. 

Sibilants and Sonisibilant s. 

W. Of the Germans ; if the lips be appressed together, as in form- 
ing the letter P; and air from the mouth be forced between 
them; the W sibilant is produced, as pronounced by the Ger- 
mans, and by some of the inferiour people of London, and ought 
to have an appropriated character as thus A\. 

W. If in the above situation of the lips a sound be produced in the 
mouth, as in the letter B, and the sonorous air be forced between 
them; the sonisibilant letter W is produced; which is the com- 
mon W of our language. 

F. If the lower lip be appressed to the edges of the upper teeth, 
and air from the mouth be forced between them, the sibilant 
letter F is formed. 

V. If in the above situation of the lip and teeth a sound be produced 
in the mouth, and the sonorous air be forced between them, the 
sonisibilant letter V is formed. 

Th. Sibilant. If the point of the tongue be placed between the teeth, 
and air from the mouth be forced between them, the Th sibilant 
is produced, as in thigh, and should have a proper character, 
as o 

Th. Sonisibilant. . If in the above situation of the tongue and teeth 
a sound be produced in the mouth, and the sonorous air be 
forced between them, the sonisibilant Th is formed, as in Thee; 
and should have an appropriated character as e . 

S. If the point of the tongue be appressed to the forepart of the 
palate, as in forming the letter T, and air from the mouth be 
forced between them, the sibilant letter S is produced. 

Z. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a sound be 
produced in the mouth, as in the letter D, and the sonorous air 
be forced between them, the sonisibilant letter Z is formed. 
S H. If the point of the tongue be retracted and applied to the middle 
part of the palate, as in forming the letter K, and air from the 
mouth be forced between them, the letter Sh is produced, which 
is a simple sound and ought to have a single character, thus A. 

J. French. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a 
sound be produced in the mouth, as in the letter Ga; and the 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 1 15 

sonorous air be forced between them ; the J consonant of the 
French is formed; which is a sonisibilant letter, as in the word 
conclusion, confusion, pigeon; it should be called Je, and 
should have a different character from the vowel i, with which 
it has an analogy, as thus V. 
H. If the back part of the tongue be appressed to the pendulous 
curtain of the palate and uvula; and air from behind be forced 
between them; the sibilant letter II is produced. 
Ch Spanish. If in the above situation of the tongue and palate a 
sound be produced behind; and the sonorous air be forced be- 
tween them; the Ch Spanish is formed; which is a sonisibilant 
letter, the same as the Ch Scotch in the words Buchanan and 
loch: it is also perhaps the Welsh guttural expressed by their 
double L as in Lloyd, TJuellen; it is a simple sound, and ought 
to have a single character as m. 
The sibilant and sonisibilant letters may be elongated in pronun- 
ciation like the vowels; thesibilancy is probably occasioned by the vi- 
brations of the air being slower than those of the lowest musical notes. 
I have preferred the word sonisibilantsto the word semivocal sibilants; 
as the sounds of these sonisibilants are formed in different apertures of 
the mouth, and not in the larynx like the vowels. 



Orisonant Liquids. 

R. If the point of the tongue be appressed to the forepart of the 
palate, as in forming the letters T, D, N, S, Z, and air be pushed 
between them so as to produce continued sound, the letter R 
is formed. 

L. If the retracted tongue be appressed to the middle of the palate, 

as in forming the letters K, Ga, NG, Sh, J French, and air be 

pushed over its edges so as to produce continued sound, the 

letter L is formed. 

The nasal letters m, n, and ng, are clear tremulous sounds like 

R and L, and have all of them been called liquids by grammarians. 

Besides the R and L, above described, there is another orisonant 

sound produced by the lips in whistling; which is not used in this 



116 Additional Notes. 

country as a part of language, and has therefore obtained no character, 
but is analogous to the R and L; it is also possible, that another ori- 
sonant letter may be formed by the back part of the tongue and back 
part of the palate, as in pronouncing H and Ch, which may perhaps 
be the Welch LI in Lloyd, Lluellim 



Four pairs of Vowels: 

A pronounced like au, as in the word call. If the aperture, made 
by approximating the back part of the tongue to the uvula and pen- 
dulous curtain of the palate, as in forming the sibilant letter H, and 
the sonisibilant letter Ch Spanish, be enlarged just so much as to 
prevent sibilancy; and a continued sound produced by the larynx be 
modulated in passing through it; the letter A is formed, as in ball, 
wall, which is sounded like aw in the word awkward; and is the most 
usual sound of the letter A in foreign languages; and to distinguish 
it from the succeeding A might be called A micron; as the aperture 
of the fauces, where it is produced, is less than in the next A. 

A pronounced like ah, as in the word hazard. If the aperture 
of the fauces above described, between the back part of the tongue 
and the back part of the palate, be enlarged as much as convenient,, 
and a continued sound, produced in the larynx, be modulated in 
passing through it; the letter A is formed, as in animal, army, and 
ought to have an appropriated character in our language, as thus y. 
As this letter A is formed by a larger aperture than the former one, 
it may be called A mega. 

A pronounced as in the words cake, ale. If the retracted tongue 
by approximation to the middle part of the palate, as in forming the 
letters R, Ga, NG, Sh, J French, L, leaves an aperture just so large as 
to prevent sibilancy, and sonorous air from the larynx be modulated 
in passing through it; the letter A is produced, as pronounced in the 
words whale, saile, and ought to have an appropriated character in 
our language, as thus ^; this is expressed by the letter E in some 
modern languages, and might be termed E micron; as it is formed by 
a less aperture of the mouth than the succeeding E. 

E pronounced like the vowel a, when short, as in the words. 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. 1 ] 7 

emblem, dwelling. If the aperture above described between the 
retracted tongue and the middle of the palate be enlarged as much as 
convenient, and sonorous air from the larynx be modulated in passing 
through it, the letter E is formed, as in the words egg, herring; and 
as it is pronounced in most foreign languages, and might be called 
E mega to distinguish it from the preceding E. 

I pronounced like e in keel. If the point of the tongue by ap- 
proximation to the forepart of the palate, as in forming the letters 
T, D, N, S, Z, R, leaves an aperture just so large as to prevent sibi- 
lancy, and sonorous air from the larynx be modulated in passing- 
through it; the vowel I is produced, which is in our language gene- 
rally represented by e when long, as in the word keel; and by i when 
short, as in the word it, which is the sound of this letter in most 
foreign languages; and may be called E micron to distinguish it from 
the succeeding E or Y. 

Y, when it begins a word, as in youth. If the aperture above 
described between the point of the tongue, and the forepart of the 
palate be enlarged as much as convenient, and sonorous air from the 
larynx be modulated in passing through it, the letter Y is formed; 
which, when it begins a word, has been called Y consonant by some, 
and by others has been thought only a quick pronunciation of our e, 
or the i of foreign languages; as in the word year, yellow; and may 
be termed E mega, as it is formed by a larger aperture than the pre- 
ceding e or i. 

O pronounced like oo, as in the word fool. If the lips by approxi- 
mation to each other, as in forming the tetters P, B, M, W sibilant, 
W sonisibilant, leave an aperture just so wide as to prevent sibilancy ; 
and sonorous air from the larynx be modulated in passing through it; 
the letter O is formed, as in the words cool, school, and ought to 
have an appropriated character as thus co, and may be termed o micron 
to distinguish it from the succeeding o. 

O pronounced as in the word cold. If the aperture above de- 
scribed between the approximated lips be enlarged as much as conve- 
nient; and sonorous air from the larynx be modulated in passing 
through it, the letter o is formed, as in sole, coal, which may U 
termed o mega, as it is formed in a larger aperture than the preced- 
ing one. 



1 1 8 Additional Notes. 



Conclusion. 



The alphabet appears from this analysis of it to consist of thirty-one 
letters, which spell all European languages. 

Three mute consonants, P, T, K. 

Three antesonant consonants, B, D, Ga. 

Three narisonant liquids, M, N, NG. 

Six sibilants, W German, F, Th, S, Sh, H. 

Six sonisibilants, W, V, Th. Z, J French, Ch Spanish. 

Two orisonant liquids, R. L. 

Eight vowels, Aw, ah, a, e, i, y, oo, o. 

To these thirty-one characters might perhaps be added ©ne for the 
Welsh L, and another for whistling with the lips; and it is possible, 
that some savage nations, whose languages are said to abound with 
gutturals, may pronounce a mute consonant, as well as an antesonant 
one, and perhaps another narisonant letter, by appressing the back 
part of the tongue to the back part of the palate, as in pronouncing the 
H, and Ch Spanish. 

The philosophical reader will perceive that these thirty-one sounds 
might be expressed by fewer characters referring to the manner of 
their production. As suppose one character was to express the ante- 
sonance of B, D, Ga; another the orisonance of R, L; another the sibi- 
lance ofW, S, Sh, H; another the sonisibilance of W, Z, J French, Ch 
Spanish; another to express the more open vowels ; another the less open 
vowels; for which the word micron is here used, and for which the 
word mega is here used. 

Then the following characters only might be necessary to express 
them all; P alone, or with antesonance B; with narisonance M; with 
sibilance W German; with sonisibilance W; with vocality, termed 
micron OO; with vocality, termed mega O. 

T alone, or with the above characters added to it, would in the 
same manner suggest D, N, S, Z, EE, Y, and R with a mark for 
orisonance. 

K alone, or with the additional characters, would suggest Ga, NG, 
Sh, J French, A, E, and L, with a mark for orisonance. 

F alone, or with a mark for sonisibilance, V. 



Analysis of Articulate Sounds. I ] 9 

Th alone, or with a mark forsonisibilance, Th. 
H alone, or with a mark for sonisibilance, Cli Spanish, and with a 
mark for less open vocality, aw, with another for more open vo- 
cality ah. 

Whence it appears that six single characters, for the letters P, T, 
K, F, Th, II, with seven additional marks joined to them for anteso- 
nance, narisonance, orisonance, sibilance, sonisibilance, less open vo- 
cality, and more open vocality; being in all but thirteen characters, 
may spell all the European languages. 

I have found more difficulty in analyzing the vowels than the other 
letters; as the apertures, through which they are modulated, do not 
close; and it was therefore less easy to ascertain exactly, in what part 
of the mouth they were modulated; but recollecting that those parts 
of the mouth must be more ready to use for the purpose of forming the 
vowels, which were in the habit of being exerted in forming the other 
letters; I rolled up some tin foil into cylinders about the size of my 
finger; and speaking the vowels separately through them, found by 
the impressions made on them, in what part of the mouth each of the 
vowels was formed with, somewhat greater accuracy, but not so as 
perfectly to satisfy myself. 

The parts of the mouth appeared to me to be those in which the 
letters P, I, K, and H, are produced; as those, where the letters F and 
Th are formed, do not suit the production of mute or antesonant con- 
sonants; as the interstices of the teeth would occasion some sibilance ; 
and these apertures are not adapted to the formation of vowels on the 
same account. 

The two first vowels aw and ah bein»- modulated in the back pari 
of the mouth, it is necessary to open wide the lips and other passages 
of the mouth in pronouncing them ; that those passages may not again 
alter their tone; and that more so in pronouncing ah, than aw; as 
the aperture of the fauces is opened wider, where it is formed, and 
from the greater or less size of these apertures used in forming the 
vowels by different persons, the tone of all of them may be somewhat 
altered as spoken by different orators. 

I have treated with greater confidence on the formation of articu- 
late sounds, as I many years ago gave considerable attention to this 
subject for the purpose of improving shorthand; at that time Icon- 



120 Additional Notes. 

trived a wooden mouth with lips of soft leather, and with a valve 
over the back part of it for nostrils, both which could be quickly 
opened or closed by the pressure of the fingers, the vocality was given 
by a silk ribbon about an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide 
stretched between two bits of smooth wood a little hollowed ; so that 
when a gentle current of air from bellows was blown on tfye edge of 
the ribbon, it gave an agreeable tone, as it vibrated between the 
wooden sides, much like a human voice. This head pronounced 
the p, b, m, and the vowel a, with so great nicety as to deceive all 
who heard it unseen, when it pronounced the words mama, papa, 
map, and pam ; and had a most plaintive tone, when the lips were 
gradually closed. My other occupations prevented me from proceed- 
ing in the further construction of this machine; which might have re- 
quired but thirteen movements, as shown in the above analysis, unless 
some variety of musical note was to be added to the vocality produced 
in the larynx; all of which movements might communicate with the 
keys of a harpsichord or forte piano, and perform the song as well 
as the accompaniment; or which if built in a gigantic form, might 
speak so loud as to command an army or instruct a crowd. 

I conclude this with an agreeable hope, that now war is ceased, the 
active and ingenious of all nations will attend again to those sciences, 
which better the condition of human nature; and that the alphabet 
will undergo a perfect reformation, which may indeed make it more 
difficult to trace the etymologies of words, but will much facilitate 
the acquisition of modern languages; which as science improves and 
becomes more generally diffused, will gradually become more distinct 
and accurate than the ancient ones; as metaphors will cease to be ne- 
cessary in conversation, and only be used as the ornaments of poetry. 



THE END. 



CONTENTS 



OF 



THE ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



NOTE I. SPONTANEOUS VITALITY OF MICROSCOPIC ANIMALS. 

I. Spontaneous vital production not contrary to scripture; to be looked for onlv 
in the simplest organic beings; supposed want of analogy no argument against it, as. 
this equally applies to all new discoveries II. The power of reproduction distin- 
guishes organic beings; which are gradually enlarged and improved by it. III. Micro- 
scopic animals produced from all vegetable and animal infusions; generate others like 
themselves by solitary reproduction; not produced from eggs; conferva fontinalis; 
mucor. III. Theory of spontaneous vitality. Animal nutrition; vegetable; some 
organic particles have appetencies to unite, others propensities to be united; buds of 
trees; sexual reproduction; analogy between generation and nutrition; laws of elasti- 
city not understood; dead animalcules recover life by heat and moisture; chaos redi- 
vivum ; vorticella; shell-snails; eggs and seeds ; hydra. Classes of microscopic ani- 
mals; general remarks. 



NOTE II. FACULTIES OF THE SENSORIUM. 

Fibres possess a power of contraction ; spirit of animation immediate cause of their 
contracting; stimulus of external bodies the remote cause; stimulus produces irrita- 
tion; due contraction occasions pleasure; too much, or too little, pain; sensation, 
produces desire or aversion, which constitute volition; associated motions; irritation; 
sensation; volition; association; sensorium. 

NOTE III. VOLCANOES. 

Their explosions occasioned by water falling on boiling lava; primeval earth- 
quakes of great extent ; more elastic vapours might raise islands and continents, or 
even throw the moon from the earth; stones falling from the sky; earthquake at 
Lisbon; subterraneous fires under this island. 

R 



122 CONTENTS OF THE ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



NOTE IV. MUSQUITO. 

The larva lives chiefly in water,; it may be driven away by smoke; gnats; libel- 
!uk; aestros bovis; botts ; musca cbamaeleon; vomitovia. 



NOTE V. AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 

Diodon has both lungs and gills; some amphibious quadrupeds have the foramen 
ovale open; perhaps it may be kept open in dogs by frequent immersion so as to 
render them amphibious; pearl divers; distinctions of amphibious animals; lamprey; 
leech; remora; whale. 

NOTE VI. HIEROGLYPHIC CHARACTERS. 

Used by the magi of Egypt to record discoveries in science, and historical events; 
astrology an early superstition; universal characters desirable; Grey's Memoria 
Technica; Bergeret's Botanical Nomenclature; Bishop Wilkins's Real Character and 
Philosophical Language. 

NOTE VII. OLD AGE AND DEATH. 

I. Immediate cause of the infirmities of age not yet well ascertained; must be 
sought in the laws of animal excitability; debility induced by inactivity of imany 
parts of the system; organs of sense become less excitable; this ascribed to habit; 
may arise from deficient secretion of sensorial power; all parts of the system not 
changed as We advance in life. II. Means of preventing old age; warm bath; fishes; 
cold-blooded amphibious animals; fermented liquors injurious; also want of heat, 
food, and fresh air; variation of stimuli; volition; activity. III. Theory of the 
approach of age; surprise; novelty; why contagious diseases -affect a person but 
once; debility; death, 

NOTE VIII. REPRODUCTION. 

I. Distinguishes animation from mechanism; solitary and sexual; buds and bulbs; 
aphises; tenia; volvox; polypus; oyster; eel; hermaphrodites. II. Sexual. III. In- 
ferior vegetables and animals propagate by solitary generation only ; next order by both; 
superior by sexual generation alone. IV. Animals are improved by reproduction; 
contagious diseases ; reproduction a mystery. 



CONTENTS OF THE ADDITIONAL NOTES 



NOTE IX. STORGE. 

Pelicans; pigeons; instincts of animals acquired by a previous state, and trans- 
mitted by tradition ; parental love originates from pleasure. 



NOTE X. EVE FROM ADAM'S RIB. 

Mosaic history of Paradise supposed by some to be an allegory; Egyptian phil 
phers, and others, supposed mankind to have been originally of both sexes united. 



NOTE XL HEREDITARY DISEASES. 

Most affect the offspring of solitary reproduction ; grafted trees, strawberries, po- 
tatoes; changing seed; intermarriages; hereditary diseases owing to indulgence in 
fermented liquors; immoderate use of common salt; improvement of pro^env; ha- 
zardous to marry an heiress. 



NOTE XII. CHEMICAL THEORY OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. 

I. Attraction and repulsion. II. Two kinds of electric ether; atmospheres of 
electricity surround all separate bodies; atmospheres of similar kinds repel, of different 
kinds attract each other strongly; explode on uniting; nonconductors; imperfect con- 
ductors; perfect conductors; torpedo, gymnotus, galvanism. III. Effect of metal- 
lie points. IV. Accumulation of electric ethers by contact. V. By vicinity; Volta's 
eleclrophorus and Bennet's doubler. VI. By heat and by decomposition ; the tourmalin ; 
cats; galvanic pile; evaporation of water. VII. The spark from the conductor; 
electric light; not accounted for by Franklin's theory. VIII. Shock from a coated 
jar; perhaps an unrestrainable ethereal fluid yet unobserved; electric condensation. 
IX. Galvanic electricity. X. Two magnetic ethers; analogy between magnetism and. 
electricity j differences between them. XL Conclusion. 

NOTE XIII. ANALYSIS OF TASTE. 

Tas.te may signify the pleasures received by any of the senses, but not those w bich 
simply attend perception; four sources of pleasure in vision. I. Novelty or infrequency 
of visible objects; surprise. II. Repetition; beating of a drum; dancing; architec- 
ture; landscapes; picturesque; beautiful; romantic; sublime. III. Melody of 
colours. IV. Association of agreeable sentiments with visible objects j vision the 
language of touch; sentiment of beauty. 



124 CONTENTS OF THE ADDITIONAL NOTES. 

NOTE XIV. THEORY AND STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE, 

Ideas; words the names or symbols of ideas. I. Conjunctions and prepositions; 
abbreviations of other words. II. Nouns substantive. III. Adjectives, articles, par- 
ticiples, adverbs. IV. Verbs; progressive production of language. 

NOTE XV. ANALYSIS OF ARTICULATE SOUNDS. 

I. Imperfections of the present alphabet; of our orthography. II. Production of 
sounds. III. Structure of the alphabet; mute and antesonant consonants, and nasal 
liquids; sibilants and soni sibilants; orisonant liquids; four pairs of vowels;, alphabet 
consists of thirty-one letters; speaking figure. 



ERRATUM* 
Additional Notes, p. 43, 1. 3. for Canto II, 1. 129, read Canto II, 1. 1G5= 



T. Benfley, Printer, Bolt Court; Fleet Street, London. 



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